Court life in China: the capital, its officials and people

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COURT LIFE IN CHINA

ISAAC TAYLOR HEADLAND’S
THREE BOOKS THAT
“LINK EAST AND WEST”

Court Life in China

The Capital, Its Officials and
People.

Illustrated, cloth, net $1.50

The Chinese Boy and
Girl

Fully Illustrated, Quarto boards,
decorated, net ^1.00

Chinese Mother Goose
Rhymes

Illustrated, Quarto boards, net $1.00

The Empress Dowager as the
Goddess of Mercy.

In this painting the Empress Dowager is repre-
sented as the “Goddess of Mercy,” an attitude
which she delighted to assume, with her rosary in
her hand, standing upon a lotus petal and floating
upon the waves of the sea. It was painted for the
author by one of the leading portrait painters of
Peking. (See page go.)

Court Life in China

THE CAPITAL
ITS OFFICIALS
AND PEOPLE

By

ISAAC TAYLOR I^ADLAND

Professor in the Peking University

ILLUSTRATED

117379 '

New York Chicago Toronto

Fleming H. Revell Company

London and Edinburgh

Copyright, 1909, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

Second Edition

New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue
Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W.
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street

PREFACE

NTIL within the past ten years a study of

Chinese court life would have been an

impossibility. The Emperor, the Em-

press Dowager, and the court ladies were shut
up within the Forbidden City, away from a world
they were anxious to see, and which was equally
anxious to see them. Then the Emperor insti-
tuted reform, the Empress Dowager came out
from behind the screen, and the court entered
into social relations with Europeans.

For twenty years and more Mrs. Headland has
been physician to the family of the Empress Dow-
ager’s mother, the Empress’ sister, and many of
the princesses and high official ladies in Peking.
She has visited them in a social as well as a profes-
sional way, has taken with her her friends, to
whom the princesses have shown many favours,
and they have themselves been constant callers
at our home. It is to my wife, therefore, that I
am indebted for much of the information con-
tained in this book.

There are many who have thought that the
Empress Dowager has been misrepresented.
The world has based its judgment of her charac-
ter upon her greatest mistake, her participation
in the Boxer movement, which seems unjust, and

I

117379

2

Preface

has closed its eyes to the tremendous reforms
which only her mind could conceive and her
hand carry out. The great Chinese officials to a
man recognized in her a mistress of every situa-
tion ; the foreigners who have come into most
intimate contact with her, voice her praise ; while
her hostile critics are confined for the most part
to those who have never known her. It was for
this reason that a more thorough study of her
life was undertaken.

It has also been thought that the Emperor has
been misunderstood, being overestimated by
some, and underestimated by others, and this
because of his peculiar type of mind and charac-
ter. That he was unusual, no one will deny ;
that he was the originator of many of China’s
greatest reform measures, is equally true ; but
that he lacked the power to execute what he con-
ceived, and the ability to select great statesmen
to assist him, seems to have been his chief short-
coming.

To my wife for her help in the preparation of
this volume, and to my father-in-law, Mr. Will-
iam Sinclair, M. A., for his suggestions, I am
under many obligations.

I. T. H.

CONTENTS

I. The Empress Dowager — Her Early

Life 7

II. The Empress Dowager — Her Years

OF Training 17

III. The Empress Dowager — As a Ruler 33

IV. The Empress Dowager — As a Re-

actionist 51

V. The Empress Dowager — As a

Reformer 67

VI. The Empress Dowager — As an

Artist 83

VII. The Empress Dowager — As a

Woman 95

VIII. KuangHsu — His Self-Development hi

IX. Kuang HsU — As Emperor and Re-

former 129

X. Kuang HstJ — As a Prisoner . .149

XI. Prince ChOn — The Regent . .169

XII. The Home of the Court — The For-

bidden City 185

XIII. The Ladies of the Court . .199

XIV. The Princesses — Their Schools . 21 1

XV. The Chinese Ladies of Rank . 227

3

4

xvi.

XVII.

XVIII,

XIX.

XX.
XXL

XXII.

Contents

The Social Life of the Chinese
Woman 245

The Chinese Ladies — Their Ills . 269

The Funeral Ceremonies of a Dow-
ager Princess .... 287

Chinese Princes and Officials . 303

Peking — The City of the Court . 327

The Death of Kuang Hsu and the
Empress Dowager . . -341

The Court AND THE New Education 353

Index ...... 367

ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing page

Dowager Empress as Goddess of Mercy . . . Title

(Painted by a Chinese artist)

Empress Dowager in Pearl Fringed Robes . . 36

Cock and Beetle . . . . . . .87

The Empress Dowager as Goddess of Mercy . . 90

Sprigs of Peach Bloom Painted by the Empress Dow-
ager . . ..... 92

Portrait of the Empress Dowager by Miss Karl,
About to Leave Peking for St. Louis Exhibi-
tion . . . . . . . .104

Manchu Princesses at a Luncheon at the American

Legation . . . . . . *173

Prince Chun and His Delegation . . . .175

Prince Pu Lun, Imperial Delegate to the St. Louis

Exposition . . . . . . .182

Empress Dowager’s Dining-Room .... 193

A Manchu Princess ...... 208

Prince Su and His Camel Cart . . . .211

Chinese Ladies in Winter Garments . . . 232

Mrs. Headland and Friends Visiting at the Home of

Duke Jung ....... 255

The Empress Dowager, Placing a Flower in Her

Hair ........ 274

5

6

Illustrations

Hatamen Street Before Macadamizing , . *33°

Hatamen Street as It is To-Day .... 340

Prince Chon with the Emperor Pu I on His Left 346
Yang Shih-Hsiang ...... 362

Yuan Shih-kai ....... 362

The Empress Dowager — Her Early Life

All the period since i86i should be rightly recorded as
the reign of Tze Hsi An, a more eventful period than all
the two hundred and forty-four reigns that had preceded
her three usurpations. It began after a conquering army
had made terms of peace in her capital, and with the
Tai-ping rebellion in full swing of success.

Those few who have looked upon the countenance of the
Dowager describe her as a tall, erect, fine-looking woman
of distinguished and imperious bearing, with pronounced
Tartar features, the eye of an eagle, and the voice of de-
termined authority and absolute command.

— Eliza Ruhamah Scidniore in “ China, The Long-Lived
Empire.”

Court Life in China

1

THE EMPRESS DOWAGER—HER EARLY LIFE

ONE day when one of the princesses was
calling at our home in Peking, I in-
quired of her where the Empress Dow-
ager was born. She gazed at me for a moment
with a queer expression wreathing her features,
as she finally said with just the faintest shadow
of a smile : “We never talk about the early his-
tory of Her Majesty.” I smiled in return and
continued : “I have been told that she was born
in a small house, in a narrow street inside of the
east gate of the Tartar city — the gate blown up
by the Japanese when they entered Peking in
1900.” The princess nodded. “ I have also
heard that her father’s name was Chao, and that
he was a small military official (she nodded again)
who was afterwards beheaded for some neglect
of duty.” To this the visitor also nodded assent.

A few days later several well-educated young
Chinese ladies, daughters of one of the most dis-
tinguished scholars in Peking, were calling on

9

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Court Life in China

my wife, and again I pursued my inquiries. “ Do
you know anything about the early life of the
Empress Dowager? ” I asked of the eldest. She
hesitated a moment, with that same blank ex-
pression I had seen on the face of the princess,
and then answered very deliberately, — “ Yes,
everybody knows, but nobody talks about it.”
And this is, no doubt, the reason why the early
life of the greatest woman of the Mongol race,
and, as some who knew her best think, the most
remarkable woman of the nineteenth century, has
ever been shrouded in mystery. Whether the
Empress desired thus to efface all knowledge of
her childhood by refusing to allow it to be talked
about, I do not know, but I said to myself:
“ What everybody knows, I can know,” and I pro-
ceeded to find out.

I discovered that she was one of a family of
several brothers and sisters and born about 1834 ;
that the financial condition of her parents was such
that when a child she had to help in caring for
the younger children, carrying them on her back,
as girls do in China, and amusing them with such
simple toys as are hawked about the streets or sold
in the shops for a cash or two apiece ; that she and
her brothers and little sisters amused themselves
with such games as blind man’s buff, prisoner’s
base, kicking marbles and flying kites in company
with the other children of their neighbourhood.
During these early years she was as fond of the

The Empress Dowager — Her Early Life 1 1

puppet plays, trained mice shows, bear shows, and
“ Punch and Judy” as she was in later years of
the theatrical performances with which she enter-
tained her visitors at the palace. She was com-
pelled to run errands for her mother, going to
the shops, as occasion required, for the daily sup-
ply of oils, onions, garlic, and other vegetables
that constituted the larger portion of their food.
I found out also that there is not the slightest
foundation for the story that in her childhood she
was sold as a slave and taken to the south of
China.

The outdoor life she led, the games she played,
and the work she was forced to do in the absence
of household servants, gave to the little girl a
well-developed body, a strong constitution and a
fund of experience and information which can be
obtained in no other way. She was one of the
great middle class. She knew the troubles and
trials of the poor. She had felt the pangs of
hunger. She could sympathize with the millions
of ambitious girls struggling to be freed from the
trammels of ignorance and the age-old customs
of the past — a combat which was the more real
because it must be carried on in silence. And
who can say that it was not the struggles and
privations of her own childhood which led to the
wish in her last years that “ the girls of my em-
pire may be educated ” ?

When little Miss Chao had reached the age of

12

Court Life in China

fourteen or fifteen she was taken by her parents
to an office in the northern part of the imperial
city of Peking where her name, age, personal
appearance, and estimated degree of intelligence
and potential ability were registered, as is done in
the case of all the daughters of the Manchu peo-
ple, The reason for this singular proceeding is
that when the time comes for the selection of a
wife or a concubine for the Emperor, or the choos-
ing of serving girls for the palace, those in charge
of these matters will know where they can be ob-
tained.

This custom is not considered an unalloyed
blessing by the Manchu people, and many of
them would gladly avoid registering their daugh-
ters if only they dared. But the rule is compul-
sory, and every one belonging to the eight Ban-
ners or companies into which the Manchus are
divided must have their daughters registered.
Their aversion to this custom is well illustrated
in the following incident :

In one of the girls’ schools in Peking there was
a beautiful child, the daughter of a Manchu
woman whose husband was dead. One day this
widow came to the principal of the school and
said : “ A summons has come from the court for
the girls of our clan to appear before the officials
that a certain number may be chosen and sent
into the palace as serving girls.” “ When is she
to appear ? ” inquired the teacher. “ On the six-

The Empress Dowager — Her Early Life 13

teenth,” answered the mother. “ I suppose you
are anxious that she should be one of the fortu-
nate ones,” said the teacher, “ though I should be
sorry to lose her from the school.” “ On the con-
trary,” said the mother, “ I should be distressed
if she were chosen, and have come to consult
with you as to whether we might not hire a
substitute.” The teacher expressed surprise and
asked her why. “ When our daughters are taken
into the palace,” answered the mother, “they are
dead to us until they are twenty-five, when they
are allowed to return home. If they are incom-
petent or dull they are often severely punished.
They may contract disease and die, and their
death is not even announced to us ; while if they
prove themselves efficient and win the approval
of the authorities they are retained in the palace
and we may never see them or hear from them
again.”

At first the teacher was inclined to favour the
hiring of a substitute, but on further considera-
tion concluded that it would be contrary to the
law, and advised that the girl be allowed to go.
The mother, however, was so anxious to prevent
her being chosen that she sent her with uncombed
hair, soiled clothes and a dirty face, that she
might appear as unattractive as possible.

The prospects for a concubine are even less
promising than for a serving maid, as when she
once enters the palace she has little if any hope

14 Court Life in China

of ever leaving it. She is neither mistress nor
servant, wife nor slave, she is but one of a hun-
dred buds in a garden of roses which have little
if any prospect of ever blooming or being plucked
for the court bouquet. When, therefore, the gates
of the Forbidden City close behind the young
girls who are taken in as concubines of an em-
peror they shut out an attractive, busy, beautiful
world, filled with men and women, boys and girls,
homes and children, green fields and rich harvests,
and confine them within the narrow limits of one
square mile of brick-paved earth, surrounded by
a wall twenty-five feet high and thirty feet thick,
in which there is but one solitary man who is
neither father, brother, husband nor friend to
them, and whom they may never even see.

When therefore the time came for the selection
of concubines for the Emperor Hsien Feng, and
our little Miss Chao was taken into the palace,
her parents, like many others, had every reason
to consider it a piece of ill-fortune which had
visited their home. The future was veiled from
them. The Forbidden City, surrounded by its
great crenelated wall, may have seemed more like
a prison than like a palace. True, they had other
children, and she was “ only a girl, but even girls
are a small blessing,” as they tell us in their prov-
erbs. She had grown old enough to be use-
ful in the home, and they no doubt had cherished
plans of betrothing her to the son of some mer-

The Empress Dowager — Her Early Life 15

chant or official who would add wealth or honour
to their family. Neither father nor mother,
brother nor sister, could have conceived of the
potential power, honour and even glory, that were
wrapped up in that girl, and that were finally to
come to them as a family, as well as to many of
them as individuals. Their wildest dreams at
that time could not have pictured themselves
dukes and princesses, with their daughters as
empresses, duchesses, or ladies-in-waiting in the
palace. But such it proved to be.

3

''1

II

The Empress Dowager — Her Years of
Training

The kindness of the Empress is as boundless as the sea.
Her person too is holy, she is like a deity.

With boldness, from seclusion, she ascends the Dragon
Throne,

And saves her suffering country from a fate we dare not
own.

“ Yuan Fan," Translated by /. T. H.

II

THE EMPRESS DOWAGER— HER YEARS OF
TRAINING

The year our little Miss Chao entered the
palace was a memorable one in the
history of China. The Tai-ping rebel-
lion, which had begun in the south some three
years earlier (1850), had established its capital at
Nanking, on the Yangtse River, and had sent its
“long-haired” rebels north on an expedition of
conquest, the ultimate aim of which was Peking.
By the end of the year 1853 they had arrived
within one hundred miles of the capital, conquer-
ing everything before them, and leaving devas-
tation and destruction in their wake.

Their success had been extraordinary. Start-
ing in the southwest with an army of ten thou-
sand men they had eighty thousand when they
arrived before the walls of Nanking. They were
an undisciplined horde, without commissariat,
without drilled military leaders, but with such reck-
less daring and bravery that the imperial troops
were paralyzed with fear and never dared to meet
them in the open field. Thousands of common
thieves and robbers flocked to their standards
with every new conquest, impelled by no higher

19

20

Court Life in China

motive than that of pillage and gain. Rumours
became rife in every village and hamlet, and as
they neared the capital the wildest tales were told
in every nook and corner of the city, from the
palace of the young Emperor in the Forbidden
City to the mat shed of the meanest beggar be-
neath the city wall.

My wife says : “ I remember just after going

to China, sitting one evening on a kang, or brick
bed, with Yin-ma, an old nurse, our only light
being a wick floating in a dish of oil. Yin-ma
was about the age of the Empress Dowager, but,
unlike Her Majesty, her locks were snow-white.
When I entered the dimly lighted room she was
sitting in the midst of a group of women and
girls — patients in the hospital — who listened with
bated breath as she told them of the horrors of
the Tai-ping rebellion.

“ ‘ Why 1 ’ said the old nurse, ‘ all that the rebels
had to do on their way to Peking, was to cut out
as many paper soldiers as they wanted, put them
in boxes, and breathe upon them when they met
the imperial troops, and they were transformed
into such fierce warriors that no one was able to
withstand them. Then when the battle was over
and they had come off victors they only needed
to breathe upon them again, when they were
changed into paper images and packed in their
boxes, requiring neither food nor clothing. In-
deed the spirits of the rebels were everywhere,

21

Her Years of Training

and no matter who cut out paper troops they
could change them into real soldiers.’

“ ‘ But, Yin-ma, you do not believe those
superstitions, do you ? ’

“ ‘ These are not superstitions, doctor, these are
facts, which everybody believed in those days,
and it was not safe for a woman to be seen with
scissors and paper, lest her neighbours report that
she was cutting out troops for the rebels. The
country was filled with all kinds of rumours, and
every one had to be very careful of all their con-
duct, and of everything they said, lest they be
arrested for sympathizing with the enemy.’

“ ‘ But, Yin-ma, did you ever see any of these
paper images transformed into soldiers ? ’

‘“No, I never did myself, but there was an
old woman lived near our place, who was said to
be in sympathy with the rebels. One night my
father saw soldiers going into her house and
when he had followed them he could find noth-
ing but paper images. You may not have any-
thing of this kind happen in America, but very
many people saw them in those terrible days of
pillage and bloodshed here.’ ”

Such stories are common in all parts of China
during every period of rebellion, war, riot or dis-
turbance of any kind. The people go about
with fear on their faces, and horror in their
voices, telling each other in undertones of what
some one, somewhere, is said to have seen or

22

Court Life in China

heard. Nor are these superstitions confined to
the common people. Many of the better classes
believe them and are filled with fear.

As the Tai-ping rebellion broke out when
Miss Chao was about fifteen or sixteen years of
age, she would hear these stories for two or three
years before she entered the palace. After she had
been taken into the Forbidden City she would
continue to hear them, brought in by the
eunuchs and circulated not only among all the
women of the palace, but among their own asso-
ciates as well, and here they would take on a
more mysterious and alarming aspect to these
people shut away from the world, as ghost stories
become more terrifying when told in the dim
twilight. May this not account in some measure
for the attitude assumed by the Empress Dowa-
ger towards the Boxer superstitions of 1900, and
their pretentions to be able at will to call to their
aid legions of spirit-soldiers, while at the same
time they were themselves invulnerable to the
bullets of their enemies?

It was when Miss Chao was ten years old that
the conflict known as the Opium War was
brought to an end. It has been said that when
the Emperor was asked to sanction the importa-
tion of opium, he answered, “ I will never legal-
ize a traffic that will be an injury to my people,”
but whether this be true or not, it is admitted by
all that the central government was strongly op-

Her Years of Training

23

posed to the sale and use of the drug within its
domains. It is unfortunate, to say the least, that
the first time the Chinese came into collision
with European governments was over a matter
of this kind, and it is to the credit of the Chinese
commissioner when the twenty thousand chests
of opium, over which the dispute arose, were
handed over to him, he mixed it with quicklime
in huge vats that it might be utterly destroyed
rather than be an injury to his people. They
may have exhibited an ignorance of international
law, they may have manifested an unwise con-
tempt for the foreigner, but it remains a fact of
history that they were ready to suffer great finan-
cial loss rather than get revenue from the ruin of
their subjects, and that England went to war for
the purpose of securing indemnity for the opium
destroyed.

The common name for opium among the
Chinese is yang yen — foreign tobacco, and my
wife says : “ When calling at the Chinese homes,
I have frequently been offered the opium-pipe, and
when I refused it the ladies expressed surprise,
saying that they were under the impression that
all foreigners used it.”

What now were the results of the Opium War
as viewed from the standpoint of the Chinese
people, and what impression would it make upon
them as a whole ? Great Britain demanded an
indemnity of $21,000,000, the cession to them of

24

Court Life in China

Hongkong, an island on the southern coast,
and the opening of five ports to British trade.
China lost her standing as suzerain among the
peoples of the Orient and got her first glimpse of
the White Peril from the West.

Although the Empress Dowager was but a
child of ten at this time she would receive her
first impression of the foreigner, which was that
he was a pirate who had come to carry away
their wealth, to filch from them their land, and
to overrun their country. He became a veritable
bugaboo to men, women and children alike, and
this impression was crystallized in the expression
ya7ig kuei, “foreign devil,” which is the only
term among a large proportion of the Chinese
by which the foreigner is known. One day when
walking on the street in Peking I met a woman
with a child of two years in her arms, and as I
passed them, the child patted its mother on the
cheek and said in an undertone, — “ The foreign
devil’s coming,” which led the frightened mother
to cover its eyes with her hand that it might not
be injured by the sight.

On one occasion a friend was travelling
through the country when a Chinese gentleman,
dressed in silk and wearing an official hat, called
on him at the inn where he was stopping and
with a profound bow addressed him as “ Old Mr.
Foreign Devil.”

My wife says that : “Not infrequently when I

25

Her Years of Training

have been called for the first time to the homes
of the better classes I have seen the children run
into the house from the outer court exclaiming,
— ‘The devil doctor’s coming.’ Indeed, I have
heard the women use this term in speaking of
me to my assistant until I objected, when they
asked with surprise, — ‘ Doesn’t she like to be
called foreign devil ? ’ ” And so the Empress
Dowager’s first impression of the foreigner would
be that of a devil.

Colonel Denby tells us that “A Frenchman
and his wife were carried off from Tonquin by
bandits who took refuge in China. The Chinese
government was asked to rescue these prisoners
and restore them to liberty. China sent a
brigade of troops, who pursued the bandits to
their den and recovered the prisoners. The
French government thanked the Chinese gov-
ernment for its assistance, and bestowed the
decoration of the Legion of Honour on the
brigade commander, and then shortly afterwards
demanded the payment of an enormous in-
demnity for the outrage on the ground that
China had delayed to effect the rescue. The
Chinese were aghast, but they paid the money.”

This incident does not stand alone, but is one
of a number of similar experiences which the
Chinese government had in her relation with the
powers of Europe, and which have been reported
by such writers as Holcomb, Beresford, Gorst

26

Court Life in China

Colquhoun and others in trying to account for
the feelings the Chinese have towards us, all of
which was embodied in the years of training of
our little concubine.

It should be remembered that many concubines
are selected whom the Emperor never takes the
trouble to see. After being taken in, their
temper and disposition are carefully noted,
their faithfulness in the duties assigned them,
their diligence in the performance of their
tasks, their kindness to their inferiors, their
treatment of their equals, and their politeness
and obedience to their superiors, and upon all
these things, with many others, as we shall see,
their promotion will finally depend.

When Miss Chao entered the palace, like
most girls of her class or station in life, she was
uneducated. She may have studied the small
“ Classic for Girls ” in which she learned :

“You should rise from bed as early in the morning as the
sun,

Nor retire at evening’s closing till your work is wholly
done.”

Or, further, she may have been told,

“ When the wheel of life’s at fifteen.

Or when twenty years have passed.

As a girl with home and kindred these will surely be
your last ;

Her Years of Training 27

While expert in all employments that compose a
woman’s life,

You should study as a daughter all the duties of a
wife.”

Or she may have read the “ Filial Piety Classic
for Girls ” in which she learned the importance
of the attitude she assumed towards those who
were in authority over her, but certain it is she
was not educated.

She had, however, what was better than edu-
cation— a disposition to learn. And so when she
had the good fortune, — or shall we say misfor-
tune,— for as we have seen it is variously re-
garded by Chinese parents — to be taken into the
palace, she found there educated eunuchs who
were set aside as teachers of the imperial harem.
She was bright, attractive, and I think I may add
without fear of contradiction, very ambitious, and
this in no bad sense. She devoted herself to her
studies with such energy and diligence as not
only to attract the attention of the teacher, but to
make herself a fair scholar, a good penman, and
an exceptional painter, and it was not long until,
from among all the concubines, she had gained
the attention and won the admiration — and shall
we say affection — not only of the Empress, but
of the Emperor himself, and she was selected as
the first concubine or hcei fei, and from that
time until the death of the Empress the two
women were the starmchest of friends.

28

Court Life in China

The new favourite had been a healthy and vig-
orous girl, with plenty of outdoor life in child-
hood, and it was not long before she became the
happy mother of Hsien Feng’s only son. She
was thenceforward known as the Empress-mother.
In a short time she was raised to the position of
wife, and given the title of Western Empress,
as the other was known as the Eastern, from
which time the two women were equal in rank,
and, in the eyes of the world, equal in power.

The first Empress was a pampered daughter of
wealth, neither vigorous of body nor strong of
mind, caring nothing for political power if only
she might have ease and comfort, and there is
nothing that exhibits the Empress Dowager’s real
greatness more convincingly than the fact that
she was able to live for thirty years the more for-
tunate mother of her country’s ruler, and, in
power, the mistress of her superior, without
arousing the latter’s envy, jealousy, anger, or
enmity. Let any woman who reads this imag-
ine, if she can, herself placed in the position of
either of these ladies without being inclined to
despise the less fortunate, ease-loving Empress if
she be the dowager, or hating the more power-
ful dowager if she be the Empress. Such a state
of affairs as these two women lived in for more
than a quarter of a century is almost if not en-
tirely unique in history.

Perhaps the incident which made most im-

Her Years of Training 29

pression upon her was one which happened in
i860 and is recorded in history as the Arrow
War, A few years before a number of Chinese,
who owned a boat called the Arrow, had it reg-
istered in Hongkong and hence were allowed to
sail under the British flag. There is no question
I think but that these Chinese were committing
acts of piracy, and as this was one of the causes
of disturbance on that southern coast for cen-
turies past, the viceroy decided to rid the country
of this pest. Nine days after the time for which
the boat had been registered, but while it con-
tinued unlawfully to float the British colours, the
viceroy seized the boat, imprisoned all her crew,
and dragged down the British flag. This was an
insult which Great Britain could not or would
not brook and so the viceroy was ordered to re-
lease the prisoners, all of whom were Chinese
subjects, on penalty of being blown up in his
own yamen if he refused.

Frightened at the threat, and remembering the
result of the former war, the viceroy sent the
prisoners to the consulate in chains without
proper apologies for his insult to the flag. This
angered the consul and he returned them to the
viceroy, who promptly cut off their heads with-
out so much as the semblance of a trial, and
Britain, anxious, as she was, to have every door
of the Chinese empire opened to foreign trade,
found in this another pretext for war. We do

Court Life in China

30

not pretend to argue that this was not the best
thing for China and for the world, but it can only
be considered so from the bitter medicine, and
corporal punishment point of view, neither of
which are agreeable to either the patient or the
pupil.

Britain went to war. The viceroy was taken
a prisoner to India, whence he never returned.
As though ashamed to enter upon a second un-
provoked and unjust war alone, she invited
France, Russia, and America to join her. France
was quite ready to do so in the hope of strength-
ening her position in Indo-China, and with noth-
ing more than the murder of a missionary in
Kuangsi as a pretext she put a body of troops in
the field large enough to enable her to check-
mate England, or humiliate China as the ex-
igencies of the occasion, and her own interests,
might demand. America and Russia having no
cause for war, no wrongs to redress, and no
desire for territory, refused to join her in sending
troops, but gave her such sympathy and support
as would enable her to bring about a more satis-
factory arrangement of China’s foreign relations
— that is more satisfactory to themselves regard-
less of the wishes, though not perhaps the in-
terests, of China.

We know how the British and French marched
upon Peking in i860; how the summer palace
was left a heap of ruins as a punishment for the

Her Years of Training 31

murder of a company of men under a flag of
truce ; and how the Emperor Hsien Feng, with
his wife, and the mother of his only son, our
Empress Dowager, were compelled to flee for the
first time before a foreign invader. Their refuge
was Jehol, a fortified town, in a wild and rugged
mountain pass, on the borders of China and
Tartary, a hundred miles northeast of Peking.
At this place the Emperor died, whether of dis-
ease, chagrin, or of a broken heart— or of all
combined, it is impossible to say, and the Em-
press-mother w'as left an exile and a widow, with
the capital and the throne for the first time at
the mercy of the Western barbarian.

This was the beginning of two important
phases of the Empress Dowager’s life — her
affliction and her power, and her greatness is
exhibited as well by the way in which she bore
the one as by the way in which she wielded the
other. In most cases a woman would have been
so overcome by sorrow at the loss of her husband,
as to have forgotten the affairs of state, or to have
placed them for the time in the hands of others.
Not so with this great woman. Prince Kung,
the brother of Hsien Feng, had been left in
Peking to arrange a treaty with the Europeans,
which he succeeded in doing to the satisfaction
of both the Chinese and the foreigners.

On the death of the Emperor, a regency was
organized by two of the princes, which did not

32

Court Life in China

include Prince Kung, and disregarded both of
the dowagers, and it seemed as though Prince
Kung was doomed. His father-in-law, however,
the old statesman who had signed the treaties,
urged him to be the first to get the ear of the
two women on their return to the capital. This
he did, and as it seemed evident that the regency
and the council had been organized for the ex-
press purpose of tyrannizing over the Empresses
and the child, they were at once arrested, the
leader beheaded, and the others condemned to
exile or to suicide. The child had been placed
upon the throne as “ good-luck,” but now a new
regency was formed, consisting of the two
dowagers, with Prince Kung as joint regent, and
the title of the reign was changed to Tung Chih
or ” joint government.” Thus ended the Em-
press Dowager’s years of training.

The Empress Dowager — As a Ruler

That a Manchu woman who had had such narrow op-
portunities of obtaining a knowledge of things as they really
are, in distinction from the tissue of shams which consti-
tute the warp and the woof of an Oriental Palace, should
have been able to hold her own in every situation, and
never be crushed by the opposing forces about her, is a
phenomenon in itself only to be explained by due recogni-
tion of the influence of individual qualities in a ruler even
in the semi-absolutism of China.

— Arthur H. Smith in “ China in Convulsion."

m

THE EMPRESS DOWAGER— AS A RULER

IN considering the policy pursued by the
Empress-mother after her accession to the
regency, one cannot but feel that she was
fully aware of the fact that she had been the wife
of an emperor, and was the mother of the heir,
of a decaying house. Of the 218 years that her
dynasty had been in power, 120 had been occu-
pied by the reigns of two emperors, and only
seven monarchs had sat upon the throne, a
smaller number than ever ruled during the same
period in all Chinese history. These two Em-
perors, Kang Hsi and Chien Lung, the second
and fourth, had each reigned for sixty years, the
most brilliant period of the “ Great Pure Dy-
nasty,” unless we except the last six years of the
Empress Dowager’s regency. The other ninety-
eight years saw five rulers rise and pass away,
each one becoming weaker than his predecessor
both in character and in physique, until with the
death of her son, Tung Chih, the dynasty was
left without a direct heir.

The decay of the imperial house, the encroach-
ments of the foreigner, and the opposition of the
native Chinese to the rule of the Manchus, awoke

35

Court Life in China

36

the Empress Dowager to a realization of the fact
that a stronger hand than that of her husband
must be at the helm if the dynasty of her people
were to be preserved. “ It may be said with
emphasis,” says Colonel Denby, who was for
thirteen years minister to China, “ that the Em-
press Dowager has been the first of her race to
apprehend the problem of the relation of China
to the outer world, and to make use of this rela-
tion to strengthen her dynasty and to promote
material progress.” She was fortunate in having
Prince Kung associated with her in the regency,
a man tall, handsome and dignified, and the
greatest statesman that has come from the royal
house since the time of Chien Lung.

Here appears one of the chief characteristics
of the Empress Dowager as a ruler — her ability
to choose the greatest statesmen, the wisest ad-
visers, the safest leaders, and the best guides,
from the great mass of Chinese officials, whether
progressive or conservative. Prince Kung was
for forty years the leading figure of the Chinese
capital outside of the Forbidden City. He ap-
peared first, at the age of twenty-six, as a mem-
ber of the commission that tried the minister who
failed to make good his promise to induce Lord
Elgin and his men-of-war to withdraw from Tien-
tsin in 1858. The following year he was made a
member of the Colonial Board that controlled the
affairs of the “outer Barbarians,” and a year later

EMPRESS DOWAGER IN PEARL FRINGED
ROYAL ROBES

The Empress Dowager — As a Ruler 37

was left in Peking, when the court fled, to ar-
range a treaty of peace with the victorious Brit-
ish and French after they had taken the capital,
“ In these trying circumstances,” says Professor
Giles, “the tact and resource of Prince Rung
won the admiration of his opponents,” and when
the Foreign Office was formed in 1861, it be-
gan with the Prince as its first president, a posi-
tion which he continued to hold for many years.

It was he, as we have seen, who succeeded in
outwitting and overthrowing the self-constituted
regency on the death of his brother Hsien Feng,
and, with the Empress Dowager, seated her in-
fant son upon the throne, with the two Empresses
and himself as joint regents. This condition con-
tinued for some years, with the senior Empress
exercising no authority, and Prince Kung con-
tinually growing in power. The arrangement
seemed satisfactory to all but one — the Empress-
mother. To her it appeared as though he were
fast becoming the government, and she and the
Empress were as rapidly receding into the back-
ground, while in reality the design had been to
make him “joint regent ” with them. In all the
receptions of the officials by the court. Prince
Kung alone could see them face to face, while the
ladies were compelled to remain behind a screen,
listening to the deliberations but without taking
any part therein, other than by such suggestions
as they might make.

38

Court Life in China

Being the visible head of the government, and
the only avenue to positions of preferment, he
would naturally be flattered by the Chinese offi-
cials. This led him to assume an air of impor-
tance which consciously or unconsciously he car-
ried into the presence of their Majesties, and one
morning he awoke to find himself stripped of all
his rank and power, and confined and guarded a
prisoner in his palace, by a joint decree from the
two Empresses accusing him of “ lack of respect
for their Majesties.” The deposed Prince at once
begged their forgiveness, whereupon all his hon-
ours were restored with their accompanying
dignities, but none of his former power as joint
regent, and thus the first obstacle to her reestab-
lishment of the dynasty was eliminated by the .
Empress-mother. To show Prince Kung, how-
ever, that they bore him no ill will, the Em-
presses adopted his daughter as their own, rais-
ing her to the rank of an imperial princess, and
though the Prince has long since passed away
his daughter still lives, and next to the Empress
Dowager has been the leading figure in court
circles during the past ten years’ association with
the foreigners.

During her son’s minority, after the dismissal
of Prince Kung as joint regent, the Empress-
mother year by year took a more active part in
the affairs of state, while the Empress as grad-
ually sank into the background. She was far

The Empress Dowager — As a Ruler 39

sighted. Having but one son, and knowing the
uncertainty of life, she originated a plan to secure
the succession to her family. To this end she
arranged for the marriage of her younger sister
to her husband’s younger brother commonly
known as the Seventh Prince, in the hope that from
this union there might come a son who would
be a worthy occupant of the dragon throne in case
her own son died without issue. She felt that
the country needed a great central figure capable
of inspiring confidence and banishing uncertainty,
a strong, well-balanced, broad-minded, self-abne^
gating chief executive, and she proposed to
furnish one. Whether she would succeed or not
must be left to the future to reveal, but the one
great task set by destiny for her to accomplish
was to prepare the mind of a worthy successor to
meet openly and intelligently the problems which
had been too vast, too new and too complicated
for her predecessors, if not for herself, to solve.

When her son was seventeen years old he was
married to Alute, a young Manchu lady of one of
the best families in Peking and was nominally
given the reins of power, though as a matter of
fact the supreme control of affairs was still in the
hands of his more powerful mother. The minis-
ters of the European countries, England, France,
Germany, Russia and the United States, now
resident at Peking, thought this a good time for
bringing up the matter of an audience with the

40

Court Life in China

new ruler, and after a long discussion with Prince
Rung and the Empress-mother, the matter was
arranged without the ceremony of prostration
which all previous rulers had demanded.

The married life of this young couple was a
short one. Three years after their wedding cere-
monies the young monarch contracted smallpox
and died without issue, and was followed shortly
afterwards by his young wife who heeded liter-
ally the instruction of one of their female teach-
ers in her duty to her husband to

Share his joy as well as sorrow, riches, poverty or guilt,

And in death be buried with him, as in life you shared
his guilt.

That her nearest relatives did not believe, as
has often been suggested, that there was any
“ foul play ” in regard to her death, is evident
from the fact that her father continued to hold
office until the time of the Boxer uprising, at
which time he followed the fleeing court as far as
Paotingfu, where having heard that the capital
was in the hands of the hated foreigners, he sent
word back to his family that he would neither eat
the foreigners’ bread nor drink their water, but
would prefer to die by his own hand. When his
family received this message they commanded
their servants to dig a great pit in their own
court in which they all lay and ordered the coolies
to bury them. This they at first refused to do,

The Empress Dowager — As a Ruler 41

but they were finally prevailed upon, and thus
perished all the male members of her father’s
household except one child that was rescued and
carried away by a faithful nurse.

When Tung Chih died there was a formidable
party in the palace opposed to the two dowagers,
anxious to oust them and their party and place
upon the throne a dissolute son of Prince Kung.
But it would require a master mind from the out-
side to learn of the death of her son and select
and proclaim a successor quicker than the Em-
press Dowager herself could do so from the in-
side. She first sent a secret messenger to Li
Hung-chang whom she had appointed viceroy
of the metropolitan province at Tientsin eighty
miles away, informing him of the illness of her
son and urging him to come to Peking with his
troops post-haste and be ready to prevent any
disturbance in case of his death and the announce-
ment of a successor.

When Li Hung-chang received her orders, he
began at once to put them into execution. Tak-
ing with him four thousand of his most reliable
Anhui men, all well-armed horse, foot and artil-
lery, he made a secret forced march to Peking.
The distance of eighty miles was covered in
thirty-six hours and he planned to arrive at mid-
night. Exactly on the hour Li and his picked
guard were admitted, and in dead silence they
marched into the Forbidden City. Every man

42

Court Life in China

had in his mouth a wooden bit to prevent talk-
ing, while the metal trappings of the horses were
muffled to deaden all sound. When they arrived
at the forbidden precincts, the Manchu Banner-
men on guard at the various city gates were re-
placed by Li’s Anhui braves, and as the Empress
Dowager had sent eunuchs to point out the pal-
ace troops which were doubtful or that had openly
declared for the conspirators, these were at once
disarmed, bound and sent to prison. The artil-
lery were ordered to guard the gates of the For-
bidden City, the cavalry to patrol the grounds,
and the foot-soldiers to pick up any stray con-
spirators that could be found. A strong detach-
ment was stationed so as to surround the Empress
Dowager and the child whom she had selected as
a successor to her son, and when the morning sun
rose bright and clear over the Forbidden City
the surprise of the conspirators who had slept the
night away was complete. Of the disaffected
that remained, some were put in prison and
others sent into perpetual exile to the Amoor be-
yond their native borders, and when the Empress
Dowager announced the death of her son, she
^.^^roclaimed the son of her sister, Kuang Hsii, as
his successor, with herself and the Empress as re-
gents during his minority. When everything
was settled, Li folded his tent like the Arab, and
stole away as silently as he had come.

The wisdom and greatness of the Empress

The Empress Dowager — As a Ruler 43

Dowager were thus manifested in binding to the
throne the greatest men not only in the capital but
in the provinces. Li Hung-chang had won his
title to greatness during the Tai-ping rebellion,
for his part in the final extinction of which he
was ennobled as an Earl. From this time on-
ward she placed him in the highest positions of
honour and power within sufficient proximity to
the capital to have his services within easy reach.
For twenty-four years he was kept as viceroy of
the metropolitan province of Chihli, with the
largest and best drilled army at his command
that China had ever had, and yet during all this
time he realized that he was watched with the
eyes of an eagle lest he manifest any signs of re-
bellion, while his nephew was kept in the capital
as a hostage for his good conduct. Once and
again when he had reached the zenith of his
power, or had been feted by foreign potentates
enough to turn the head of a bronze Buddha,
his yellow jacket and peacock feather were
kindly but firmly removed to remind him that
there was a power in Peking on whom he was
dependent.

Li Hung-chang’s greatness made him many
enemies. Those whom he defeated, those whom
he would not or could not help, those whom he
punished or put out of office, and those whose
enmity was the result of jealousy. When the
war with Japan closed and the Chinese govern-

44

Court Life in China

ment sent Chang Yin-huan to negotiate a treaty
of peace, the Japanese refused to accept him,
nor were they willing to take up the matter until
“ Li Hung-chang was appointed envoy, chiefly
because of his great influence over the govern-
ment, and the respect in which he was held by
the people.” We all know how he went, how he
was shot in the face by a Japanese fanatic, the
ball lodging under the left eye, where it re-
mained a memento which he carried to the
grave. We all know how he recovered from
the wound, and how because of his sufferings he
was able to negotiate a better treaty than he
could otherwise have done. Then he returned
home, and only “ the friendship of the Empress
and his own personal sufferings saved his life,”
says Colonel Denby, for “the new treaty was
urgently denounced in China” by carping critics
who would not have been recognized as envoys
by their Japanese enemies.

In 1896 he was appointed to attend the coro-
nation of the Czar at Moscow, and thence con-
tinued his trip around the world. Never before
nor since has a Chinese statesman or even a
prince been feted as he was in every country
through which he passed. When he was about
to start, at his request I had a round fan
painted for him, with a map of the Eastern
hemisphere on one side and the Western on the
other, on which all the steamship lines and rail-

The Empress Dowager — As a Ruler 45

roads over which he was to travel were clearly
marked, with all the ports and cities at which he
expected to stop. He was photographed with
Gladstone, and hailed as the “ Bismarck of the
East,” but when he returned to Peking, for no
reason but jealousy, “ he was treated as an extinct
volcano.” The Empress Dowager invited him
to the Summer Palace where he was shown about
the place by the eunuchs, treated to tea and pipes,
and led into pavilions where only Her Majesty
was allowed to enter, and then denounced to the
Board of Punishments who were against him to
a man. And now this Grand Secretary whom
kings and courts had honoured, whom emperors
and presidents had feted, and our own govern-
ment had spent thirty thousand dollars in enter-
taining, was once more stripped of his yellow
jacket and peacock feather, and fined the half
of a year’s salary as a member of the For-
eign Office, which was the amusing sum of
forty-five taels or about thirty-five dollars gold,
and it was said in Peking at the time that
only the intercession of the Empress Dowager
saved him from imprisonment or further dis-
grace.

During the whole regency of the Empress
Dowager only two men have occupied the posi-
tion of President of the Grand Council — Prince
Kung and Prince Ching. While the former was
degraded many times and had his honours all

Court Life in China

46

taken from him, the latter “ has kept himself on
top of a rolling log for thirty years ” without
losing any of the honours which were originally
conferred upon him. The same is true of
Chang Chih-tung, Liu Kun-yi and Wang Wen-
shao, three great viceroys and Grand Secretaries
whom the Empress Dowager has never allowed
to be without an important ofhce, but whom she
has never degraded. Need we ask the reason
why? The answer is not far to seek. They
were the most eminent progressive officials she
had in her empire, but none of them were great
enough to be a menace to her dynasty, and
hence need not be reminded that there was a
power above them which by a stroke of her pen
could transfer them from stars in the official
firmament to dandelions in the grass. Not so
with Yuan Shih-kai — but we will speak of him
in another chapter.

All the great officials thus far mentioned have
belonged to the progressive rather than the con-
servative party, all of them the favourites of the
Empress Dowager, placed in positions of in-
fluence and kept in office by her, all of them
working for progress and reform, and yet she
has been constantly spoken of by European
writers as a reactionary. Nothing could be
farther from the truth, as we shall see. Never-
theless she kept some of the great conservative
J^-ofhcials in office either as viceroys or Grand

The Empress Dowager — As a Ruler 47

Secretaries that she might be able to hear both
sides of all important questions.

One of these conservatives was Jung Lu, the
father-in-law of the present Regent. When she
placed Yiian Shih-kai in charge of the army of
north China, she also appointed Jung Lu as
Governor-General of the metropolitan province
of Chihli. One was a progressive, the other a
conservative. Neither could make any impor-
tant move without the knowledge and consent of
the other. Whether the Empress Dowager fore-
saw the danger that was likely to arise, we do
not know, but she provided against it. We
refer to the occasion when in 1898 the Emperor
ordered Yiian Shih-kai to bring his troops to
Peking, guard the Empress Dowager a prisoner
in the Summer Palace, and protect him in his
efforts at reform. The story belongs in another
chapter, but we refer to it here to show how the
Empress Dowager played one official against
another, and one party against another, to pre-
vent any such calamity or surprise. It would
have been impossible for Yuan Shih-kai to have
taken his troops to Peking for any purpose with-
out first informing his superior officer Jung Lu
unless he put him to death, much less to have
gone on such a mission as that of imprisoning as
important a personage as the Empress Dowager,
to whom they were both indebted for their office.

Another instance of the way in which the

Court Life in China

48

Empress Dowager played one party against
another was the appointment of Prince Tuan as
a member of the Foreign Office. After his son
had been selected as the heir-apparent it seemed
to the Empress Dowager that for his own edu-
cation and development he should be made to
come in contact with the foreigners. Most of
the foreigners considered the appointment ob-
jectionable on account of the “ Prince’s anti-
foreign tendencies. But to my mind,” says Sir
Robert Hart, “ it was a good one ; the Empress
Dowager had probably said to the Prince, ‘ You
and your party pull one way. Prince Ching and
his another — what am I to do between you ?
You, however, are the father of the future
Emperor, and have your son’s interests to take
care of ; you are also head of the Boxers and
chief of the Peking Field 'Force, and ought
therefore to know what can and what cannot
be done. I therefore appoint you to the yamen ;
do what you consider most expedient, and take
care that the throne of your ancestors descends
untarnished to your son, and their empire un-
diminished ! yours is the power, — yours the re-
sponsibility— and yours the chief interests 1 ’ I
can imagine the Empress Dowager taking this
line with the Prince, and, inasmuch as various
ministers who had been very anti-foreign before
entering the yamen had turned round and be-
haved very sensibly afterwards, I felt sure that

The Empress Dowager — As a Ruler 49

responsibility and actual personal dealings with
foreigners would be a good experience and a
useful education for this Prince, and that he
would eventually be one of the sturdiest sup-
porters of progress and good relations.”

%

The Empress

IV

Dowager — As a Reactionist

The most interesting personage in China during the
past thirty years has been and still is without doubt the
lady whom we style the Empress Dowager. The char-
acter of the Empress’s rule can only be judged by what
it was during the regency, when she was at the head of
every movement that partook of the character of reform.
Foreign diplomacy has failed, for want of a definite centre
of volition and sensation to act upon. It had no fulcrum
for its lever. Hence only force has ever succeeded in
China. With a woman like the Empress might it not be
possible really to transact business ?

— Blackwood's Magazine.

IV

THE EMPRESS DOWAGER— AS A REACTIONIST

IT was between November i, 1897, and April
16, 1898, that Germany, Russia, France and
England wrested from the weak hands of
the Emperor Kuang Hsii the four best ports in
the Chinese empire, leaving China without a
place to rendezvous a fleet. The whole empire
was aroused to indignation, and even in our
Christian schools, every essay, oration, dialogue
or debate was a discussion of some phase of the
subject, “ How to reform and strengthen China.”
The students all thought, the young reformers all
thought, and the foreigners all thought that
Kuang Hsii had struck the right track. The
great Chinese officials, however, were in doubt,
and it was because of their doubt — progressives
as well as conservatives — that the Empress
Dowager was again called to the throne.

Now may I request the enemies of the Empress
Dowager to ask themselves what they would
have done if they had been placed at the head of
their own government v/hen it was thus being
filched from them ? You say she was anti-foreign
— would you have been very much in love with
Germany, Russia, France and England under

S3

54

Court Life in China

those circumstances ? That she acted unwisely
in placing herself in the hands of the conserva-
tives and allying herself with the superstitious
Boxers, we must all frankly admit. But what
would you have done ? Might you not — I do not
say you would with your intelligence — but might
you not have been induced to have clutched at as
great a log as the patriotic Boxers seemed to pre-
sent, if you had been as near drowning as she was ?

“ It is generally supposed,” says one of her
critics, “that Kang Yu-wei suggested to the Em-
peror, that if he would render his own position
secure, he must retire the Empress Dowager, and
decapitate Jung Lu.” If that be true, and I think
it very reasonable, the condition must have been
desperate, when the reformers had to begin kill-
ing the greatest of their opponents, and impris-
oning those who had given them their power,
though neither of these at that time had raised a
hand against them. Have you noticed how
ready we are to forgive those on our side for
doing that for which we would bitterly condemn
our opponents ? The same people who condemn
the Empress Dowager for beheading the six
young reformers stand ready to forgive Kuang
Hsii for ordering the decapitation of Jung Lu, and
the imprisonment of his foster-mother.

There were two powerful factions in Peking, the
progressives, headed by Prince Ching ; and the
conservatives, headed by Jung Lu. Now the

The Empress Dowager — As a Reactionist 55

Empress Dowager may have reasoned thus :
“ The progressives and reformers have had their
day. They have tried their plans and they have
failed. The only result they have secured is
peace — but peace always at the expense of terri-
tory. Now I propose to try another plan. I
will part with no more ports, and I will resist to
the death every encroachment.” She therefore
took up Li Ping-heng, who had been deposed
from the governorship of Shantung at the time
of the murder of the German missionaries, and
appointed him Generalissimo of the forces of the
Yangtse, where he no doubt promised to resist
to the last all encroachments of the foreigners in
that part of the empire while Jung Lu was re-
tained in Peking as head of all the forces of the
province of Chihli and the Northern Squadron.
She then appointed Kang Yi, another conserva-
tive, equally as anti-foreign as Li Ping-heng, to
inspect the fortifications and garrisons of the em-
pire, and to raise an immense sum of money for
the depleted treasury. In his visits to the south-
ern provinces, Kang Yi at this time raised not
less than two million taels, which was no doubt
spent in the purchase of guns and ammunition
and other preparations for war. Yii Hsien, another
equally conservative Manchu, she appointed
Governor of Shantung to succeed Li Ping-heng,
and it is to him the whole Boxer uprising is due.
Moreover when he, at the repeated requests of

56 Court Life in China

the foreigners, was removed from Shantung, she
received him in audience at Peking, conferred
upon him additional honours and appointed him
Governor of the adjoining province of Shansi,
where, and under whose jurisdiction, almost all
the massacres were committed. Indeed Yii
Hsien may be considered the whole Boxer move-
ment, for this seems to have been his plan for
getting rid of the foreigners.

But while thus allying herself with the conserv-
atives, the Empress Dowager did not cut herself
off from the progressives. Li Hung-chang was
appointed Viceroy of Kuangtung, Yiian Shih-kai
Governor of Shantung and Tuan Fang of Shensi
while Liu Kun-yi, Chang Chih-tung, and Kuei
Chun were kept at their posts, so that she had
all the greatest men of both parties once more in
her service. Then she began sending out edicts,
retracting those issued by Kuang Hsii, and what
could be more considerate of the feelings of the
Emperor, or more diplomatic as a state paper
than the following, issued in the name of Kuang
Hsii, September 26, 1898,

“ Our real desire was to make away with su-
perfluous posts for the sake of economy : whereas,
on the contrary, we find rumours flying abroad
that we intended to change wholesale the cus-
toms of the empire, and, in consequence, innu-
merable impossible suggestions of reform have
been presented to us. If we allowed this to go

The Empress Dowager — As a Reactionist 57

on, none of us would know to what pass matters
would come. Hence, unless we hasten to put
our present wishes clearly before all, we greatly
fear that the petty yamen officials and their un-
derlings will put their own construction on what
commands have gone before, and create a fer-
ment in the midst of the usual calm of the people.
This will indeed be contrary to our desire, and
put our reforms for strengthening and enriching
our empire to naught.

“We therefore hereby command that the
Supervisorate of Instruction and other five minor
Courts and Boards, which were recently abol-
ished by us and their duties amalgamated with
other Boards for the sake of economy, etc., be
forthwith restored to their original state and du-
ties, because we have learned that the process of
amalgamation contains many difficulties and will
require too much labour. We think, therefore,
it is best that these offices be not abolished at all,
there being no actual necessity for doing this.
As for the provincial bureaus and official posts
ordered to be abolished, the work in this connec-
tion can go on as usual, and the viceroys and
governors are exhorted to work earnestly and
diligently in the above duty. Again as to the
edict ordering the establishment of an official
newspaper, the Chinese Progress, and the privi-
lege granted to all scholars and commoners to
memorialize us on reforms, etc., this was issued

58 Court Life in China

in order that a way might be opened by which
we could come into touch with our subjects, high
and low. But as we have also given extra liberty
to our censors and high officers to report to us
on all matters pertaining to the people and their
government, any reforms necessary, suggested
by these officers, will be attended to at once by
us. Hence we consider that our former edict
allowing all persons to report to us is, for obvi-
ous reasons, superfluous, with the present legiti-
mate machinery at hand. And we now command
that the privilege be withdrawn, and only the
proper officers be permitted to report to us as to
what is going on in our empire. As for the news-
paper Chinese Progress^ it is really of no use to
the government, while, on the other hand, it will
excite the masses to evil ; hence we command
the said paper to be suppressed.

“ With regard to the proposed Peking Uni-
versity and the middle schools in the provincial
capitals, they may go on as usual, as they are a
nursery for the perfection of true ability and tal-
ents. But with reference to the lower schools in
the sub-prefectures and districts there need be no
compulsion, full liberty being given to the people
thereof to do wffiat they please in this connec-
tion. As for the unofficial Buddhist, Taoist,
and memorial temples which w'ere ordered to
be turned into district schools, etc., so long as
these institutions have not broken the laws by

The Empress Dowager — As a Reactionist 59

any improper conduct of the inmates, or the dei-
ties worshipped in them are not of the seditious
kind, they are hereby excused from the edict
above noted. At the present moment, when the
country is undergoing a crisis of danger and
difficulty, we must be careful of what may be
done, or what may not, and select only such
measures as may be really of benefit to the
empire.”

I submit the above edict to the reader request-
ing him to study it, and, if necessary to its un-
derstanding, to copy it, and see if the Empress
Dowager has not preserved the best there is in
it, viz., “ the Peking University, and the middle
schools in the provincial capitals,” “ full liberty
being given to the people with reference to the
lower schools in the sub-prefectures and districts
to do as they please.” How much oil would be
cast on how many troubled waters can only be
realized by the unfortunate priests and dismissed
officials and people upon whom “ there need be
no compulsion ” !

Three days after the foregoing, on September
29th, she issued another edict purporting to
come from the Emperor, ordering the punish-
ment of Kang Yu-wei and others of his confreres.
Now, if it is true that Kang Yu-wei advised the
Emperor to behead Jung Lu and imprison the
Empress Dowager, for no cause whatsoever,
how would you have been inclined to treat him

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supposing you had been in her place ? The de-
cree says :

“ All know that we try to rule this empire by
our filial piety towards the Empress Dowager ;
but Kang Yu-wei’s doctrines have always been
opposed to the ancient Confucian tenets.
Owing, however, to the ability shown by the
said Kang Yu-wei in modern and practical mat-
ters, we sought to take advantage of it by ap-
pointing him a secretary of the Foreign Office,
and subsequently ordered him to Shanghai to
direct the management of the official newspaper
there. Instead of this, however, he dared to re-
main in Peking pursuing his nefarious designs
against the dynasty, and had it not been for the
protection given by the spirits of our ancestors
he certainly would have succeeded. Kang Yu-
wei is therefore the arch conspirator, and his
chief assistant is Liang Chi-tsao, M. A., and they
are both to be immediately arrested and punished
for the crime of rebellion. The other principal
conspirators, namely, the Censor Yang Shen-
hsin, Kang Kuang-jen — the brother of Kang
Yu-wei — and the four secretaries of the Tsungli
Yamen, Tan Sze-tung, Liu Hsin, Yang Jui, and
Liu Kuang-ti, we immediately ordered to be
arrested and imprisoned by the Board of Pun-
ishments: but fearing that if any delay ensued
in sentencing them they would endeavour to en-
tangle a number of others, we accordingly com-

The Empress Dowager — As a Reactionist 6i

manded yesterday (September 28th) their imme-
diate execution, so as to close the matter entirely
and prevent further troubles.”

This with the execution of one or two other
officials is the greatest crime that can be laid at
the door of the Empress Dowager — great
enough in all conscience — yet not to be com-
pared to those of ” good Queen Bess.”

We now come to what is said to have been a
secret edict issued by the Empress Dowager to
her viceroys, governors, Tartar generals and the
commanders-in-chief of the provinces, dated
November 21, 1899. And this I regard as one
of the greatest and most daring things that
great woman ever undertook.

After the Empress Dowager had taken the
throne, Italy, following the example set by the
other powers, demanded the cession of Sanmen
Bay in the province of Chekiang. But she
found a different ruler on the throne, and to her
great surprise, as well as that of every one else,
China returned a stubborn refusal. Moreover,
she began to prepare to resist the demand, and
it soon became evident that to obtain it, Italy
must go to war. This she had not the stomach
for and so the demand was withdrawn. This
explanation will go far towards helping us to
understand the following secret edict of No-
vember 2 1 St, to which I have already referred.

“ Our empire is now labouring under great

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Court Life in China

difficulties which are becoming daily more and
more serious. The various Powers cast upon
us looks of tiger-like voracity, hustling each
other in their endeavours to be the first to seize
upon our innermost territories. They think that
China, having neither money nor troops, would
never venture to go to war with them. They
fail to understand, however, that there are cer-
tain things that this empire can never consent
to, and that, if hardly pressed upon, we have
no alternative but to rely upon the justice of our
cause, the knowledge of which in our breasts
strengthens our resolves and steels us to present
a united front against our aggressors. No one
can guarantee, under such circumstances, who
will be the victor and who the vanquished in
the end. But there is an evil habit which has
become almost a custom among our viceroys
and governors which, however, must be eradi-
cated at all costs. For instance, whenever
these high officials have had on their hands
cases of international dispute, all their actions
seem to be guided by the belief in their breasts
that such cases would eventually be ‘ amicably
arranged.’ These words seem never to be out
of their thoughts : hence, when matters do come
to a crisis, they, of course, find themselves
utterly unprepared to resist any hostile aggres-
sions on the part of the foreigner. We, indeed,
consider this the most serious failure in the duty

The Empress Dowager — As a Reactionist 63

which the highest provincial authorities owe to
the throne, and we now find it incumbent upon
ourselves to censure such conduct in the most
severe terms.

“ It is our special command, therefore, that
should any high official find himself so hard
pressed by circumstances that nothing short of
war would settle matters, he is expected to set
himself resolutely to work out his duty to this
end. Or, perhaps, it would be that war has
already actually been declared ; under such
circumstances there is no possible chance of the
imperial government consenting to an imme-
diate conference for the restoration of peace. It
behooves, therefore, that our viceroys, governors,
and commanders-in-chief throughout the whole
empire unite forces and act together without
distinction or particularizing of jurisdictions so
as to present a combined front to the enemy,
exhorting and encouraging their officers and
soldiers in person to fight for the preservation
of their homes and native soil from the en-
croaching footsteps of the foreign aggressor.
Never should the word ‘Peace’ fall from the
mouths of our high officials, nor should they
even allow it to rest for a moment within their
breasts. With such a country as ours, with her
vast area, stretching out several tens of thousands
of /?', her immense natural resources, and her
hundreds of millions of inhabitants, if only each

Court Life in China

64

and all of you would prove his loyalty to his
Emperor and love of country, what, indeed, is
there to fear from any invader ? Let no one
think of making peace, but let each strive to
preserve from destruction and spoliation his
ancestral home and graves from the ruthless
hands of the invader.”

One of her critics, referring to the last sen-
tence of the above edict, asks : ” Do not these

words throw down the gauntlet ? ” And we
answer, yes. Did not the thirteen colonies
throw down the gauntlet to England for less
cause? Did not Japan throw down the gauntlet
to Russia for less cause than the Empress
Dowager had for desiring that “each strive to
preserve from destruction and spoliation his an-
cestral home and graves ” ? It was not for con-
quest but for self-preservation the Empress
Dowager was ready to go to war ; not for glory
but for home ; not against a taunting neighbour,
but against a “ ruthless invader.” Her un-
wisdom did not consist in her being ready to go
to war, but in allowing herself to be allied to,
and depend upon, the superstitious rabble of
Boxers, and to believe that her “ hundreds of
millions ” of undisciplined “ inhabitants ” could
withstand the thousands or tens of thousands
of well-drilled, well-led, intelligent soldiers from
the West.

That she was ready to go to war rather than

The Empress Dowager — As a Reactionist 65"

weakly yield to the demands for territory from
the European powers is further evidenced by
the following edict issued by the Tsungli Yamen
to the viceroys and governors :

“ This yamen has received the special com-
mands of her Imperial Majesty the Empress
Dowager, and his Imperial Majesty the Em-
peror, to grant you full power and liberty to re-
sist by force of arms all aggressions upon your
several jurisdictions, proclaiming a state of war,
if necessary, without first asking instructions from
Peking ; for this loss of time may be fatal to your
security, and enable the enemy to make good his
footing against your forces.”

In order to strengthen her position she ap-
pointed two commissioners whom she sent to Ja-
pan in the hope of forming a secret defensive
alliance with that nation against the White Peril
from the West. For once, however, she made a
mistake in the selection of her men, for these
commissioners, unlike what we usually find the
yellow man, revealed too much of the important
mission on which they were bent, and were re-
called in disgrace, and the treaty came to naught.

The Empress Dowager — As a Reformer

Taught by the failure of a reaction on which she had
staked her life and her throne, the Dowager has become a
convert to the policy of progress. She has, in fact, out-
stripped her nephew. “Long may she live!” “Late
may she rule us ! ” During her lifetime she may be counted
on to carry forward the cause she has so ardently es-
poused. She grasps the reins with a firm hand ; and her
courage is such that she does not hesitate to drive the
chariot of state over many a new and untried road. She
knows she can rely on the support of her viceroys — men
of her own appointment. She knows too that the spirit of
reform is abroad in the land, and that the heart of the
people is with her.

— W. A. P. Martin in “ The Awakening of China.”

V

THE EMPRESS DOWAGER— AS A REFORMER

IN June, 1902, soon after the return of the
court from Hsian to Peking, a company of
ladies from the various legations in Peking
who had received invitations to an audience and
a banquet with the Empress Dowager were asked
to meet at one of the legations for the purpose of
consultation. The meeting was unusual. Many
of those who were present had no higher motive
than the ordinary tourist who goes sightseeing.
With the exception of one or two who had been
in once before, none of these ladies had ever been
present at an audience. Several of them however
had passed through the Boxer siege of 1900, had
witnessed the guns from the wall of the Imperial
City pouring shot and shell into the British lega-
tion, where they were confined during those eight
memorable weeks of June, July and August, and
had come out with their hearts filled with resent-
ment. One of them had received a decoration
from her government for her bravery in stand-
ing beside her husband on the fortifications when
buildings were crumbling and walls falling, and
her husband was buried by an exploding mine,
and then vomited out unhurt by a second ex-

69

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Court Life in China

plosion. Among the number were several recent
arrivals in Peking who had had none of these
bitter experiences, but had heard much of the
Empress Dowager, and above all things else they
were anxious to see her whom they called the
“ She Dragon.”

The presiding officer had been longest in Pe-
king, and as doyen of these diplomatic ladies, she
acted as chairman of the meeting. The first
question to be decided was the mode of convey-
ance to the “ Forbidden City.” Without much
discussion it was decided to use the sedan chair,
as being the most dignified, and used only by
Chinese ladies of rank. The chairman then
called for an expression of opinion as to the
method of procedure in presentation to the throne.
One suggested that they have no ceremony
about it, but all go up to the throne together, for
in this way none would take precedence, but all
would have an equal opportunity of satisfying
their curiosity and scrutinizing this female dragon
ad libitum. Another said : “ It will be broiling
hot on that June day, and it will be better to keep
at a safe distance from her, with plenty of guards
to protect us, or we may be broiled in more senses
than one.” The chairman looked worried at
these suggestions, but still kept her dignity and
her equilibrium. Then a mild voice suggested
that it was customary in all audiences for those
presented to courtesy to the one on the throne.

The Empress Dowager — As a Reformer 71

“ Courtesy ! ” broke in an indignant voice, “ it
would be more appropriate for her to prostrate
herself at our feet and beg us to forgive her for
trying to shoot us, than for us to courtesy to her.”
It was finally decided, however, that the same
formalities be observed as were followed by the
ministers when received at court. I give these
incidents to show the temper that prevailed among
the members of some of the legations at Peking
at the time of this first audience.

“When a few days later we followed the long line
of richly-robed princesses into the audience-hall,
all this was changed. As we looked at the Empress
Dowager seated upon her throne on a raised dais,
with the Emperor to her left and members of the
Grand Council kneeling beside her, and these
dignified, stately princesses courtesying until their
knees touched the floor, we forgot the resentful
feeling expressed in the meeting a few days be-
fore, and, awed by her majestic bearing and sur-
roundings, we involuntarily gave the three courte-
sies required from those entering the imperial
presence. We could not but feel that this stately
woman who sat upon the throne was every inch
an empress. In her hands rested the weal or
woe of one-third of the human race. Her bril-
liant black eyes seemed to read our thoughts.
Indeed she prides herself upon the fact that at a
glance she can read the character of every one
that appears before her.”

72

Court Life in China

After the ladies had taken their position in
order of their rank, the doyen presented their
good wishes to Her Majesty, which was replied
to by a few gracious words from the throne.
Each lady’s name was then announced and as
she was formally presented she ascended the
dais, and as she courtesied, the Empress Dow-
ager extended her hand which she took, and then
passed to the left to be introduced in a similar
way to the Emperor.

It was thus she began her reforms in the cus-
toms of the court, which up to this time had kept
her ever behind the screen, compelled to wield
the sceptre from her place of concealment, equally
shut out from the eyes of the world and blind to
the needs of her people. Up to her time the
people and the nation were the slaves of age-old
customs, but before the power of her personality
rites and ceremonies became the servants of the
people. In the words of the poet she seemed to
feel that

“ Rules

Are well ; but never fear to break
The scaffolding of other souls ;

It was not meant for thee to mount,

Though it may serve thee.”

Without taking away from the Emperor the
credit of introducing the railroad, the telegraph,
the telephone, the new system of education, and
many other reforms, we must still admit that it

The Empress Dowager — As a Reformer 73

was the personality, power and statesmanship of
the Empress Dowager that brought about the
realization of his dreams. The movement to-
wards female education as described in another
chapter must ever be placed to the credit of this
great woman. From the time she came from
behind the screen, and allowed her portrait to be
painted, the freedom of woman was assured.

One day when calling at the American lega-
tion I was shown two large photographs of Her
Majesty. One some three feet square was to be
sent to President Roosevelt, the other was a gift
to Major Conger. Similar photographs had been
sent to all the ministers and rulers represented
at Peking, and I said to myself ; “ The Empress
Dowager is shrewd. She knows that false pic-
tures of her have gone forth. She knows that
the painted portrait is not a good likeness, and
so she proposes to have genuine pictures in the
possession of all civilized governments.” This
shrewdness was not necessarily native on her
part, but was engendered by the arguments that
had been used by those who induced her to be
the first Chinese monarch to have her portrait
painted by a foreign artist.

A few years ago the Empress Dowager had a
dream, which, like every act of hers, was greater
than any of those of her brilliant nephew. This
dream was to give a constitution to China. Of
course, if this were done it would have to be by

74

Court Life in China

the Manchus, as the government was theirs, and
any radical changes that were made would have
to be made by the people in power. The Em-
press Dowager, however, wanted the honour of
this move to reflect upon herself, and hoped to
be able to bring it to a successful issue during
her lifetime.

There was strenuous opposition, and this most
vigorous in the party in which she had placed
herself when she dethroned Kuang Hsii. The
conservatives regarded this as the wildest venture
that had yet been made, and were ready to use
all their influence to prevent it ; nevertheless the
Empress Dowager called to her aid the greatest
and most progressive of the Manchus, the Vice-
roy Tuan Fang, and appointed him head of a
commission which she proposed to send on a
tour of the world to examine carefully the various
forms of government, with the purpose of advi-
sing her, on their return, as to the possibility of
giving a constitution to China.

A special train was provided to take the com-
mission from Peking to Tientsin. It was drawn
up at the station just outside the gate in front of
the Emperor’s palace. The commission had
entered the car, and the narrow hall or aisle
along the side was crowded with those who had
come to see them off, when, ba7ig, there was an
explosion, the side of the car was blown out,
several were injured, including slight wounds to

The Empress Dowager — As a Reformer 75

some of the members of the commission, and
the man carrying the bomb was blown into an
unrecognizable mass. For a few days the city
was in an uproar. Guards were placed at all the
gates, especially those leading to the palace, and
every possible effort was made to identify the
nihilist. But as all efforts failed, and nothing
further transpired to indicate that he had accom-
plices, the commission separated and departing
individually without display, reunited at Tien-
tsin and started on their tour of inspection.

This commission was splendidly entertained
wherever it went, given every possible oppor-
tunity to examine the constitutions of the coun-
tries through which it passed, and on its return
to Peking the report of the trip was published in
one hundred and twenty volumes, the most im-
portant item of which was that a constitution,
modelled after that of Japan, should be given to
China at as early a date as possible.

The leader of this expedition, His Excellency
the Viceroy Tuan Fang, is one of the greatest, if
not the greatest living Manchu statesman.
Like Yiian Shih-kai, during the Boxer uprising,
he protected all the foreigners within his do-
mains. That he appreciates the work done by
Americans in the opening up of China is
evidenced by a statement made in his address at
the Waldorf Astoria, in February, 1906, in
which he said :

Court Life in China

76

“We take pleasure this evening in bearing
testimony to the part taken by American mis-
sionaries in promoting the progress of the
Chinese people. They have borne the light of
Western civilization into every nook and corner
of the empire. They have rendered inestimable
service to China by the laborious task of trans-
lating into the Chinese language religious and
scientific works of the West. They help us to
bring happiness and comfort to the poor and
the suffering, by the establishment of hospitals
and schools. The awakening of China, which
now seems to be at hand, may be traced in no
small measure to the influence of the missionary.
For this service you will find China not ungrateful.”

Some may think that this was simply a senti-
ment expressed on this particular occasion be-
cause he happened to be surrounded by
secretaries and others interested in this cause.
That this is not the case is further indicated by
the fact that since that time he has on two sepa-
rate occasions attended the commencement
exercises of the Nanking University, on one of
which he addressed the students as follows :

“This is the second time I have attended the
commencement exercises of your school. I ap-
preciate the good order I find here. I rejoice at
the evidences I see' of your knowledge of the
proprieties, the depth of your learning, and the
character of the students of this institution. I

The Empress Dowager — As a Reformer 77

am deeply grateful to the president and faculty
for the goodness manifested to these my people.
I have seen evidences of it in every detail. It is
my hope that when these graduates go out into
the world, they will remember the love of their
teachers, and will practice that virtue in their
dealing with others. The fundamental principle
of all great teachers whether of the East or the
West is love, and it remains for you, young
gentlemen, to practice this virtue. Thus your
knowledge will be practical and your talents
useful.”

I have given these quotations as evidences of
the breadth of the man whom the Empress
Dowager selected as the head of this commis-
sion. It is not generally known, however, that
Duke Tse, another important member of this
commission, is married to a sister of the young
Empress Yehonala, and consequently a niece of
the Empress Dowager. Such relations existed
between Her Majesty and the viceroy, as ruler
and subject, that it would be impossible for him
to give her the intimate account of their trip
that a relative could give. It would be equally
impossible, with all her other duties, to w'ade
through a report such as they published after
their return of one hundred and twenty volumes.
But it would be a delight to call in this nephew-
in-law, and have him sit or kneel, and may we not
believe she allowed him to sit? and give her a

78 Court Life in China

full and intimate account of the trip and the
countries through which they passed. She was
anxious that this constitution should be given to
the people before she passed away. This, how-
ever, could not be. Whether it will be adopted
within the time allotted is a question which the
future alone can answer.

The next great reform undertaken by the
Empress Dowager was her crusade against
opium. The importance of this can only be
estimated when we consider the prevalence of
the use of the drug throughout the empire.
The Chinese tell us that thirty to forty per cent,
of the adult population are addicted to the use
of the drug.

One day while walking along the street in
Peking, I passed a gateway from which there
came an odour that was not only offensive but
sickening. I went on a little distance further
and entered one of the best curio shops of the
city, and going into the back room, I found the
odour of the street emphasized tenfold, as one of
the employees of the firm had just finished his
smoke. I left this shop and went to another
where the proprietor had entirely ruined his
business by his use of the drug, and it was
about this time that the Empress Dowager
issued the following edict :

“ Since the first prohibition of opium, almost
the whole of China has been flooded with the

The Empress Dowager — As a Reformer 79

poison. Smokers of opium have wasted their
time, neglected their employment, ruined their
constitutions, and impoverished their households.
For several decades therefore China has presented
a spectacle of increasing poverty and weakness.
To merely mention the matter, arouses our indig-
nation. The court has now determined to make
China powerful, and to this end we urge our
people to reformation in this respect.

“We, therefore, decree that within a limit of
ten years this injurious filth shall be completely
swept away. We further order the Council of
State to consider means of prohibition both of
growing the poppy and smoking the opium.”

The Council of State at once drew up regula-
tions designed to carry out this decree. They
were among others :

That all opium-smokers be required to report
and take out a license.

Officials using the drug were divided into two
classes. Young men must be cured of the habit
within six months, while for old men no limit was
fixed. But both classes, while under treatment,
must furnish satisfactory substitutes, at their own
expense, to attend to the duties of their office.

All opium dens must be closed within six
months, after which time no opium-pipes nor
lamps may be either made or sold. Though
shops for the sale of the drug may continue for
ten years, the limit of the traffic.

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The government promises to provide medicine
for the cure of the habit, and encourages the for-
mation of anti-opium societies, but will not allow
these societies to discuss other political matters.

Next to China Great Britain is the party most
affected by this movement towards reform.
When this edict was issued Great Britain was
shipping annually fifty thousand chests of opium
to the Chinese market, but at once agreed that if
China was sincere in her desire for reform, and
cut off her own domestic productions at the rate
of ten per cent, per annum, she would decrease
her trade at a similar rate. It is unfortunate that
the Empress Dow^ager should have died before
this reform had been carried to a successful cul-
mination, but whatever may be the result of the
movement the fact and the credit of its initiation
will ever belong to her.

Such are some of the special reform measures
instituted by the Empress Dow'ager, but in addi-
tion to these she has seen to it that the Emperor’s
efforts to establish a Board of Railroads, a Board
of Mines, educational institutions on the plans of
those of the West, should all be carried out. She
has not only done away with the old system of
examinations, but has introduced a new scheme
by which all those who have graduated from
American or European colleges may obtain
Chinese degrees and be entitled to hold office
under the government, by passing satisfactory

The Empress Dowager — As a Reformer 8i

examinations, not a small part of which is the
diploma or diplomas which they hold. Such an
examination has already been held and a large
number of Western graduates, most of them
Christian, were given the Chii-jen or Han-lin
degrees.

VI

The Empress Dowager — As an Artist

There is no genre that the Chinese artist has not at-
tempted. They have treated in turn mythological, relig-
ious and historical subjects of every kind ; they have
painted scenes of daily familiar life, as well as those in-
spired by poetry and romance ; sketched still life, land-
scapes and portraits. Their highest achievements, perhaps,
have been in landscapes, which reveal a passionate love for
nature, and show with how delicate a charm, how sincere
and lively a poetic feeling, they have interpreted its every
aspect. They have excelled too at all periods in the paint-
ing of animals and birds, especially of birds and flying in-
sects in conjunction with flowers.

— S. W. Bus hell in “ Chinese Arl.’*

VI

THE EMPRESS DOWAGER— AS AN ARTIST

ONE day the head eunuch from the palace
of the Princess Shun called at our home
to ask Mrs. Headland to go and see the
Princess. While sitting in my study and look-
ing at the Chinese paintings hanging on the wall,
two of which were from the brush of Her Majesty,
he remarked :

“ You are fond of Chinese art?”

“ I am indeed fond of it,” I answered.

“ I notice you have some pictures painted by
the Old Buddha,” he continued, referring to the
Empress Dowager by a name by which she is
popularly known in Peking.

“Yes, I have seven pictures from her brush,”
I answered.

“ Do you happen to have any from the brush
of the Lady Miao, her painting teacher ? ” he in-
quired.

“ I am sorry to say I have not,” I replied. “ I
have tried repeatedly to secure one, but thus
far have failed. I have inquired at all the best
stores on Liu Li Chang, the great curio street,
but they have none, and cannot tell me where I
can find one.”

8S

86

Court Life in China

“No, you cannot get them in the stores ; she
does not paint for the trade,” he explained.

“ I am sorry,” I continued, “ for I should like
very much to get one. I am told she is a very
good artist.”

“ Oh, yes, she paints very well,” he went on
in a careless way. “ She lives over near our
palace. We have a good many of her paintings.
They are very easily gotten.”

“ It may be easy for you to get them,” I re-
plied, “ but it is no small task for me.”

“ If you want some,” he volunteered, “ I’ll get
some for you.”

“ That would be very kind of you,” I answered,
“ but how would you undertake to get them ? ”

“ Oh, I would just steal a few and bring them
over to you.”

It is hardly necessary to assure my readers as
I did him that I could not approve of this method
of obtaining paintings from the Lady Miao’s
brush. However he must have told the Princess
of my desire, for the next time Mrs. Headland
called at the palace the Princess entertained her
by showing her a number of paintings by the
Lady Miao, together with others from the brush
of the Empress Dowager.

“ And these are really the work of Her
Majesty?” said Mrs. Headland with a rising in-
flection.

“ Yes, indeed,” replied the Princess. “ I

COCK AND BEETLE

Done by the Empress Dowager’s painting teacher at the request of the
Empress's sister and given as a present to Mrs. Headland

The Empress Dowager — As an Artist 87

watched her at work on them. They are
genuine.”

It was some weeks thereafter that Mrs. Head-
land was again invited to call and see the
Princess, and to her surprise she was introduced
to the Lady Miao, with whom and the Princess
she spent a very pleasant social hour or two.
When she was about to leave, the Princess, who
is the youngest sister of the Empress Yehonala,
brought out a picture of a cock about to catch
a beetle, which she said she had asked Lady
Miao to paint, and which she begged Mrs.
Headland to receive as a present from the artist
and herself.

During the conversation Mrs. Headland re-
marked that the Empress Dowager must have
begun her study of art many years ago.

“Yes,” said Lady Miao. “We were both
young when she began. Shortly after she was
taken into the palace she began the study of
books, and partly as a diversion, but largely out
of her love for art, she took up the brush. She
studied the old masters as they have been re-
produced by woodcuts in books, and from the
paintings that have been preserved in the palace
collection, and soon she exhibited rare talent. I
was then a young woman, my brothers were
artists, my husband had passed away, and I
was ordered to appear in the palace and work
with her.”

88

Court Life in China

“ You are a Chinese, are you not, Lady
Miao ? ”

“ Yes,” she replied, “ and as it has not been
customary for Chinese ladies to appear at court
during the present dynasty, I was allowed to
unbind my feet, comb my hair in the Manchu
style, and wear the gowns of her people.”

“ And did you go into the palace every day ? ”

“When I was young I did. Ten Thousand
Years” — another method of speaking of the
Empress Dowager — “ was very enthusiastic over
her art work in those days, and often we spent a
large part of the day either with our brushes, or
studying the history of art, the examples in the
books, or the works of the old masters in the
gallery. One of her favourite presents to her
friends, as you probably know, is a picture from
her own brush, decorated with the impress of
her great jade seal, the date, and an appropriate
poem by one of the members of the College of
Inscriptions. And no presents that she ever
gives are prized more highly by the recipients
than these paintings.”

I had seen pictures painted by Her Majesty
decorating the walls of the palaces of several of
the princes, as well as the homes of a number of
my official friends. Some of them I thought
very attractive, and they seemed to be well
done. They were highly prized by their owners,
but I was anxious to know what the Lady Miao

The Empress Dowager — As an Artist 89

thought of her ability as an artist, and so I
asked :

“ Do you consider the Empress Dowager a
good painter ? ”

“ The Empress Dowager is a great woman,”
she answered. ” Of course, as an artist, she is
an amateur rather than a professional. Had she
devoted herself wholly to art, hers would have
been one of the great names among our artists.
She wields her brush with a power and precision
which only genius added to practice can give.
She has a keen appreciation of art, and it is a
pity that the cares of state might not have been
borne by others, leaving her free to develop her
instinct for art.”

The Empress Dowager kept eighteen court
painters, selected from among the best artists
of the country, and appointed by herself, whose
whole duty it was to paint for her. They were
divided into three groups, and each group of six
persons was required to be on duty ten days of
each month. As I was deeply interested in the
study of Chinese art I became intimately ac-
quainted with most of the court painters and
knew the character of their work. The head of
this group was Mr. Kuan. I called on him one
day, knowing that he was not well enough to be
on duty in the palace, and I found him hard at
work. Like the small boy who told his mother
that he was too sick to go to school but not sick

90

Court Life in China

enough to go to bed, so he assured me that
his troubles were not such as to prevent his
working, but only such as make it impossible
for him to appear at court. Incidentally I learned
that the drain on his purse from the squeezes to
the eunuchs aggravated his disease.

“ When Her Majesty excused me from ap-
pearing at the palace,” he explained, “ she
required that I paint for her a minimum of sixty
pictures a year, to be sent in about the time of
the leading feasts. These she decorates with
her seals, and with appropriate sentiments
written by members of the College of Inscrip-
tions, and she gives them, as she gives her own,
as presents during the feasts.” Mr. Kuan and I
became intimate friends and he painted three pic-
tures which he presented to me for my collection.

One day another of the court painters came to
call on me and during the conversation told me
that he was painting a picture of the Empress
Dowager as the goddess of mercy. Up to that
time I had not been accustomed to think of her
as a goddess of mercy, but he told me that she
not infrequently copied the gospel of that god-
dess with her own pen, had her portrait painted
in the form of the goddess which she used as a
frontispiece, bound the whole up in yellow silk
or satin and gave it as a present to her favourite
officials. Of course I thought at once of my
collection of paintings, and said :

THE EMPRESS DOWAGER AS GODDESS
OF MERCY

Foreground and background painted by Court Artists

1

' 'i:

.j.

The Empress Dowager — As an Artist gi

“ How much I should like to have a picture
of the Empress Dowager as the goddess of
mercy ! ”

“ I’ll paint one for you,” said he.

All this conversation I soon discovered was
only a diplomatic preliminary to what he had
really come to tell me, which was that he had
been eating fish in the palace a few days before,
and had swallowed a fish-bone which had un-
fortunately stuck in his throat. He said that the
court physicians had given him medicine to dis-
solve the fish-bone, but it had not been effective ;
he therefore wondered whether one of the physi-
cians of my honourable country could remove it.
I took him to my friend Dr. Hopkins who lived
near by, and told him of the dilemma. The
doctor set him down in front of the window, had
him open his mouth, looked into his throat where
he saw a small red spot, and with a pair of
tweezers removed the offending fish-bone. And
had it not been for this service on the part of
Dr. Hopkins, I am afraid I should never have
received the promised picture, for he hesitated
as to the propriety of him, a court painter, doing
pictures of Her Majesty for his friends. How-
ever as he often thereafter found it necessary to
call Mrs. Headland to minister to his wife and
children he came to the conclusion that it was
proper for him to do so, and one day he brought
me the picture.

92

Court Life in China

The Empress Dowager not only loved to be
painted as the goddess of mercy, but she clothed
herself in the garments suitable to that deity,
dressed certain ladies of the court as her at-
tendants, with the head eunuch Li Lien-ying as
their protector, ordered the court artists to paint
appropriate foreground and background and
then called young Yii, her court photographer,
to snap his camera and allow Old Sol the
great artist of the universe with a pencil of his
light to paint her as she was.

One day while visiting a curio store on Liu Li
Chang, the great book street of Peking, my at-
tention was called by the dealer to four small
paintings of peach blossoms in black and white,
from the brush of the Empress Dowager. These
pictures had been in the panels of the partition
between two of the rooms of Her Majesty’s
apartments in the Summer Palace, and so I con-
sidered myself fortunate in securing them.

“You notice,” said he, “that each section of
these branches must be drawn by a single stroke
of the brush. This is no easy task. She must
be able to ink her brush in such a way as to give
a clear outline of the limb, and at the same time
to produce such shading as she may desire.
Should her outline be defective, she dare not re-
touch it ; should her shading be too heavy or
insufficient, she cannot take from it and she may
not add to it, as this would make it defective in

SPRIGS OF PEACH BLOOM PAINTED BY
THE EMPRESS DOWAGER

With the date, and a short poem written by a member of the College
of Inscriptions. The seal on top is that of her majesty

ALSO PAINTED BY THE EMPRESS DOWAGER
WITH POEM AND DATE

The Empress Dowager — As an Artist 93

the matter of caligraphy. A stroke once placed
upon her paper, for they are done on paper, is
there forever. This style of work is among the
most difficult in Chinese art.”

After securing these paintings, I showed them
to a number of the best artists of the present
day in Peking, and they all pronounced them
good specimens of plum blossom work in mono-
chrome, and they agreed with Lady Miao, that
if the Empress Dowager had given her whole
time to painting she would have passed into his-
tory as one of the great artists of the present
dynasty.

One day when one of her court painters called
I showed him these pictures. He agreed with
all the others as to the quality of her brush work,
but called my attention to a diamond shaped
twining of the branches in one of them.

“That,” said he, “is proof positive that it is
her work.”

“ Why ? ” I inquired.

“ Because a professional artist would never
twine the twigs in that fashion.”

“ And why not ? ”

“They would not do it,” he replied. “It is
not artistic.”

“ And why do not her friends call her attention
to this fact ? ” I inquired.

“ Who would do it ? ” was his counter question.

VII

The Empress Dowager — As a Woman

The first audience given by Her Imperial Majesty to the
seven ladies of the Diplomatic Corps was sought and urged
by the foreign ministers. After the troubles of 1900 and
the return of the court, Her Majesty assumed a different
attitude, and, of her own accord, issued many invitations
for audiences, and these invitations were accepted. Then
followed my tiffin to the court princesses and their tiffin
in return. This opened the way for other princesses and
wives of high officials to call, receive calls, to entertain
and be entertained. In many cases arrangements were
made through our mutual friend Mrs. Headland, an ac-
cepted physician and beloved friend of many of the higher
Chinese families; and through her innate tact, broad
thought, and great love for the good she may do, I have
been able to come into personal touch with many of these
Chinese ladies.

— Mrs. E. H. Conger in ^'Letters from China."

V

VII

THE EMPRESS DOWAGER— AS A WOMAN
LTHOUGH the great Dowager has

passed away, it may be interesting to

know something about her life and

character as a woman as those saw her who
came in contact with her in public and private
audiences. In order to appreciate how quick
she was to adopt foreign customs, let me give in
some detail the difference in her table decora-
tions at the earlier and later audiences as they
have been related by my wife.

“ At the close of the formalities of our intro-
duction to the Empress Dowager and the Em-
peror at one of the first audiences, we, with the
ladies of the court, repaired to the banqueting
hall. After we were seated, each with a princess
beside her, the great Dowager appeared. We
rose and remained standing while she took her
place at the head of the table, with the Emperor
standing at her left a little distance behind her.
As she sat down she requested us to be seated,
though the princesses and the Emperor all re-
mained' standing, it being improper for them to
sit in the presence of Her Majesty. Long-robed
eunuchs then appeared with an elaborate Chinese

97

Court Life in China

98

banquet, and the one who served the Empress
Dowager always knelt when presenting her with
a dish.

“ After we had eaten for some little time, the
doyen asked if the princesses might not be
seated. The Empress Dowager first turned to
the Emperor, and said, ‘Your Majesty, please
be seated ’ ; then turning to the princesses and
waving her hand, she told them to sit down.
They sat down in a timid, rather uncomfortable
way on the edge of the chair, but did not pre-
sume to touch any of the food.

“The conversation ran upon various topics,
and, among others, the Boxer troubles. One of
the ladies wore a badge. The Empress Dowager
noticing it, asked what it meant.

“ ‘ Your Majesty,’ was the reply, ‘ this was pre-
sented to me by my Emperor because I was
wounded in the Boxer insurrection.’

“ The Empress Dowager took the hands of this
lady in both her own, and as the tears stood in
her eyes, she said :

“ ‘ I deeply regret all that occurred during
those troublous times. The Boxers for a time
overpowered the government, and even brought
their gnns in and placed them on the walls of the
palace. Such a thing shall never occur again.’

“ The table was covered with brilliantly col-
oured oilcloth, and was without tablecloth or
napkins properly so called, but we used as nap-

The Empress Dowager — As a Woman 99

kins square, coloured bits of calico about the size
of a large bandana handkerchief. There were
no flowers, the table decorations consisting of
large stands of cakes and fruit. I speak of this
because it was all changed at future audiences,
when the table was spread with snow-white
cloths, and smiled with its load of most gorgeous
flowers. Especially was this true after the lunch-
eons given to the princesses and ladies of the
court by Mrs. Conger at the American legation,
showing that the eyes of these ladies were open
to receive whatever suggestions might come to
them even in so small a matter as the spreading
and decoration of a table. The banquets there-
after were made up of alternating courses of
Chinese and foreign food.

“With but one exception, the Empress Dow-
ager thereafter never appeared at table with her
guests. But at the close of the formal audiences,
after descending from the throne, and speaking to
those whom she had formerly met, she requested
her guests to enter the banquet hall and enjoy
the feast with the princesses, saying that the cus-
toms of her country forbade their being seated or
partaking of food if she were present. After the
banquet, however, the Empress Dowager always
appeared and conversed cordially with her
guests.

“ Her failure to appear at table may have been
influenced by the following incident ; One of the

lOO

Court Life in China

leading lady guests, anxious, no doubt, to obtain
a unique curio, requested the Empress Dowager
to present her with the bowl from which Her
Majesty was eating — a bowl which was different
from those used by her guests, as the dishes
from which her food was served were never the
same as those used by others at the table !

“ After an instant’s hesitation she turned to a
eunuch and said :

“ ‘ We cannot give her one bowl [the Chinese
custom being always to give things in pairs] ;
go and prepare her two.’

“Then, turning to her guests, she continued
apologetically :

“ ‘ I should be glad to give bowls to each of
you, but the Foreign Office has requested me
not to give presents at this audience.’ It had
been her custom to give each of her guests some
small gift with her own hands and afterwards to
send presents by her eunuchs to their homes.

“ On another occasion the lady referred to
above took an ornament from a cabinet and was
carrying it away when the person in charge of
these things requested that it be restored, saying
that she was responsible for everything in the
room and would be punished if anything were
missing.

“ The above incidents do not stand alone. It
was not uncommon for some of the Continental
guests, in the presence of the court ladies, to

The Empress Dowager — As a Woman loi

make uncomplimentary remarks about the food,
which was Chinese, and often not very palatable
to the foreigner. These remarks, of course, were
not supposed to be understood, though the Em-
press Dowager always had her own interpreter
at table. One often felt that some of these ladies,
in their efforts to see all and get all, forgot what
was due their own country as well as their im-
perial hostess.

“ One can understand the enormity of such an
offense in a court the etiquette of which is so ex-
acting that none of her own subjects ever dared
appear in her presence until they had been
properly instructed in court etiquette in the
‘ Board of Rites,’ a course of instruction which
may extend over a period of from a week to six
months. These breaches of politeness on the
part of these foreign ladies may have been over-
looked by Her Majesty and the princesses, but,
if so, it was on the old belief that all outside of
China were barbarians.

“ All the ladies who attended these audiences,
however, were not of this character. There were
those who realized the importance of those oc-
casions in the opening up of China, and were
scrupulous in their efforts to conform to the most
exacting customs of the court. And who can
doubt that the warm friendship which the Em-
press Dowager conceived for Mrs. Conger, the
wife of our American minister, who did more

102

Court Life in China

than any other person ever did, or ever can do,
towards the opening up of the Chinese court to
the people of the West, was because of her ap-
preciation of the fact that Mrs. Conger was anx-
ious to show the Empress Dowager the honour
due to her position.

“ It was in her private audiences that this great
I/woman’s tact, womanliness, fascination and charm
as a hostess appeared. Taking her guest by the
hand, she would ask in the most solicitous way
whether we were not tired with our journey to
the palace ; she would deplore the heat in sum-
mer or the cold in winter ; she would express her
anxiety lest the refreshments might not have been
to our taste ; she would tell us in the sincerest ac-
cents that it was a propitious fate that had made
our paths meet ; and she would charm each of
her guests, even though they had been formerly
prejudiced against her, with little separate atten-
tions, which exhibited her complete power as a
hostess.

“When opportunity offered, she was always
\/ anxious to learn of foreign ways and institutions.
On one occasion while in the theatre, she called
me to her side, and, giving me a chair, inquired
at length into the system of female education in
America.

“ ‘ I have heard,’ she said, ‘ that in your hon-
ourable country all the girls are taught to read.’

“ ‘ Quite so. Your Majesty.’

The Empress Dowager— As a Woman 103

“ ‘And are they taught the same branches of
study as the boys ? ’

“ ‘ In the public schools they are.'

“ ‘ I wish very much that the girls in China
might also be taught, but the people have great
difficulty in educating their boys.’

“ I then explained in a few words our public-
school system, to which she replied :

“ ‘ The taxes in China are so heavy at present
that it would be impossible to add another ex-
pense such as this would be.’

“ It was not long thereafter, however, before
an edict was issued commending female educa-
tion, and at the present time hundreds of girls’
schools have been established by private persons
both in Peking and throughout the empire.

“ On another occasion, while the ladies were
having refreshments, the Empress Dowager re-
quested me to come to her private apartments,
and while we two were alone together, with only
a eunuch standing by fanning with a large pea-
cock-feather fan, she asked me to tell her about
the church. It was apparent from the beginning
of her conversation that she made no distinction
between Roman Catholics and Protestants, call-
ing them all the Chiao. I explained to her that
the object of the church was the intellectual,
moral, and spiritual development of the people,
making them both better sons and better sub-
jects.

104 Court Life in China

“ Few women are more superstitious than the
Empress Dowager. Her whole life was influ-
enced by her belief in fate, charms, good and
evil spirits, gods and demons.

“ When it was first proposed that she have her
portrait painted for the St. Louis Exposition, she
was dumfounded. After a long conversation,
however, in which Mrs. Conger explained that
portraits of many of the rulers of Europe would
be there, including a portrait of Queen Victoria,
and that such a painting would in a way coun-
teract the false pictures of her that had gone
abroad, she said that she would consult with
Prince Ching about the matter. This looked
very much as though it had been tabled. Not
long thereafter, however, she sent word to Mrs.
Conger, asking that Miss Carl be invited to come
to Peking and paint her portrait.

“ We all know how this portrait had to be be-
gun on an auspicious day ; how a railroad had
to be built to the Foreign Office rather than have
the portrait carried out on men’s shoulders, as
though she were dead ; how she celebrated her
seventieth birthday when she was sixty-nine, to
defeat the gods and prevent their bringing such
a calamity during the celebration as had occurred
when she was sixty, when the Japanese war dis-
turbed her festivities. On her clothes she wore
the ideogi'aphs for ‘ Long Life ’ and ‘ Happiness,’
and most of the presents she gave were emblem-

PEKING FOR ST. LOUIS EXPOSITION

The Empress Dowager — As a Woman 105

atic of some good fortune. Her palace was deco-
rated with great plates of apples, which by a play
on words mean ‘ Peace,’ and with plates of
peaches, which mean ‘ Longevity.’ On her
person she wore charms, one of which she took
from her neck and placed on the neck of Mrs.
Conger when she was about to leave China, say-
ing that she hoped it might protect her during
her journey across the ocean, as it had protected
herself during her wanderings in 1900, and she
would not allow any one to appear in her pres-
ence who had any semblance of mourning about
her clothing.

“ It is a well-known fact that no Manchu woman
ever binds her feet, and the Empress Dowager
was as much opposed to foot-binding as any
other living woman. Nevertheless, she would
not allow a subject to presume to suggest to
her ways in which she should interfere in the
social customs of the Chinese, as one of her
subjects did. This lady was the wife of a Chi-
nese minister to a foreign country, and had
adopted both for herself and her daughters the
most ultra style of European dress. She one
day said to Her Majesty, ‘ The bound feet of the
Chinese woman make us the laughing-stock of
the world.’

“ ‘ I have heard,’ said the Empress Dowager,
‘ that the foreigners have a custom which is not
above reproach, and now since there are no out-

io6 Court Life in China

siders here, I should like to see what the foreign
ladies use in binding their waist.’

“ The lady was very stout, and had the appear-
ance of an hour-glass, and turning to her daugh-
ter, a tall and slender maiden, she said :

“ ‘ Daughter, you show Her Majesty.’

“ The young lady demurred until finally the
Empress Dowager said ;

“ ‘ Do you not realize that a request coming
from me is the same as a command ? ’

“ After having had her curiosity satisfied, she
sent for the Grand Secretary and ordered that
proper Manchu outfits be secured for the lady’s
daughters, saying :

“ ‘ It is truly pathetic what foreign women have
to endure. They are bound up with steel bars
until they can scarcely breathe. Pitiable ! Pit-
iable ! ’

“ The following day this young lady did not
appear at court, and the Empress Dowager asked
her mother the reason of her absence.

“ ‘ She is ill to-day,’ the mother replied.

“ ‘ I am not surprised,’ replied Her Majesty,

‘ for it must require some time after the bandages
have been removed before she can again com-
press herself into the same proportions,’ indica-
ting that the Empress Dowager supposed that
foreign women slept with their waists bound, just
as the Chinese women do with their feet.”

The first winter I spent in China, twenty years

The Empress Dowager — As a Woman 107

ago, was one of great excitement in Peking. The
time of the regency of the Empress Dowager for
the boy-emperor had ended. I have explained
how a prince is not allowed to marry a princess
because she is his relative, or even a commoner
his cousin for the same reason. That is the rule.
But rules were made to be broken, and when the
time came for Kuang Hsii’s betrothal the Em-
press Dowager decided to marry this son of her
sister to the daughter of her brother. It mattered
not that the young man was opposed to the
match and wanted another for his wife. The
Empress Dowager had set her heart upon this
union, and she would not allow her plans to be
frustrated, so an edict was issued that all people
should remain within their homes on a certain
night, for the bride w'as to be taken in her red
chair from her father’s home to the palace. So
that in this as in all other things her will was law
for all those about her.

She was a bit below the average height, but
she wore shoes, in the centre of whose soles there
were — heels, shall we call them ? — six inches high.
These, together with her Manchu garments,
which hang from the shoulders, gave her a tall
and stately appearance and made her seem, as
she was, every inch an empress. Her figure was
perfect, her carriage quick and graceful, and she
lacked nothing physically to make her a splendid
type of womanhood and ruler. Her features

io8 Court Life in China

were more vivacious and pleasing than they were
really beautiful ; her complexion was of an olive
tint, and her face illumined by orbs of jet half
hidden by dark lashes, behind which lurked the
smiles of favour or the lightning flashes of anger.

When seated upon the throne she was majesty
itself, but the moment she stepped down from the
august seat, and took one’s hand in both of hers,
saying with the most amiable of smiles : “ What
a kind fate it is that has allowed you to come and
see me again. I hope you are not over-weary
with the long journey,” one felt that she was,
above all, a woman, a companion, a friend — yet
for all that the mistress of every situation, whether
diplomatic, business, or social.

I wish her mental characteristics could be de-
scribed as completely as Japanese and other
photographers have given us pictures of her per-
son. But perhaps if this were possible she would
seem less interesting. And it may be that in the
relation of these few incidents of her career there
may have been revealed something of the patriot-
ism, the statesmanship, the imperious will, and
the ambitions that brought about the reestablish-
ment and the continuation of the dynasty of her
people. We have seen how the enemies of her
country fell before her sword. Dangerous states-
men fell before her pen, and if they were fortu-
nate enough to rise again with all their honour
it was to be divested of all their former power.

The Empress Dowager — As a Woman log

Every obstacle in her path was overcome either
by diplomacy or by force.

The Empress Dowager has no double in
Chinese history, if indeed in the history of the
world. She not only guided the ship of state
during the last half century, but she guided it
well, and put into operation all the greatest re-
forms that have ever been thought of by Chinese
statesmen. Compared with her own people, she
stands head and shoulders above any other
woman of the Mongol race. And what shall we
say of her compared with the great women of
other races ? In strength of character and ability
she will certainly not suffer in any comparison
that can be made. We cannot, therefore, help
admiring that young girl, who formerly ran er-
rands for her mother who, being made the con-
cubine of an emperor, became the mother of an
emperor, the wife of an emperor, the maker of
an emperor, the dethroner of an emperor, and the
ruler of China for nearly half a century — all this
in a land where woman has no standing or
power. Is it too much to say that she was the
greatest woman of the last half century ?

VIII

Kuang Hsli — His Self-Development

The Emperor Kuang Hsii is slight and delicate, almost
childish in appearance, of pale olive complexion, and
with great, melancholy eyes. There is a gentleness in his
expression that speaks rather of dreaming than of the
power to turn dreams into acts. It is strange to find a
personality so etherial among the descendants of the
Mongol hordes ; yet the Emperor Kuang Hsii might sit as
a model for some Oriental saint on the threshold of the
highest beatitude.

— Charles Johnston in “ The Crisis in China."

VIII

KUANG HSU— HIS SELF-DEVELOPMENT

ON the night that the son of the Empress
Dowager “ascended upon the dragon
to be a guest on high,” two sedan
chairs were borne out of the west gate of the
Forbidden City, through the Imperial City, and
into the western part of the Tartar City, in one
of which sat the senior Empress and in the
other the Empress-mother. The streets were
dimly lighted, but the chairs, each carried by
four bearers, were preceded and followed by
outriders bearing large silk lanterns in which
were tallow-candles, while a heavy cart with
relays of bearers brought up the rear. The
errand upon which they were bent was an im-
portant one — the making of an emperor — for by
the death of Tung Chih, the throne, for the first
time in the history of the dynasty, was left with-
out an heir. Their destination was the home of
the Seventh Prince, the younger brother of their
husband, to whom as we have already said the
Empress Dowager had succeeded in marrying
her younger sister, who was at that time the
happy mother of two sons.

”3

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Court Life in China

She took the elder of these, a not very sturdy
boy of three years and more, from his comfort-
able bed to make him emperor, and one can
imagine they hear him whining with a half-sleepy
yawn : “ I don’t want to be emperor. I want

to sleep.” But she bundled little Tsai Tien up
in comfortable wraps, took him out of a happy
home, from a loving father and mother, and a
jolly little baby brother, — out of a big beautiful
world, where he would have freedom to go and
come at will, toys to play with, children to con-
tend with him in games, and everything in a
home of wealth that is dear to the heart of a
child. And for what? She folded him in her
arms, adopted him as her own son, and carried
him into the Forbidden — and no doubt to him
forbidding — City, where his world was one mile
square, without freedom, without another child
within its great bare walls, where he was the one
lone, solitary man among thousands of eunuchs
and women. The next morning when the im-
perial clan assembled to condole with her on the
death of her son, she bore little Tsai Tien into
their midst declaring : “ Here is your em-

peror.”

At that time there were situated on Legation
Street, in Peking, two foreign stores that had
been opened without the consent of the Chinese
government, for in those days the capital had
not been opened to foreign trade. As the stores

Kuang Hsii — His Self-Development 115

were small, and in such close proximity to the
various legations, the most of whose supplies
they furnished, they seem to have been too un-
important to attract official attention, though
they were destined to have a mighty influence
on the future of China. One of them was kept
by a Dane, who sold foreign toys, notions, dry-
goods and groceries such as might please the
Chinese or be of use to the scanty European
population of the great capital. By chance
some of the eunuchs from the imperial palace,
wandering about the city in search of something
to please little Tsai Tien, dropped into this store
on Legation Street and bought some of these
foreign toys for his infant Majesty.

They had already ransacked the city for
Chinese toys. They had gone to every fair,
visited every toy-shop, called upon every
private dealer, and paid high prices for samples
of their best work made especially for the royal
child. There were crowing cocks and cackling
hens ; barking dogs and crying infants ; music
balls and music carts ; horns, drums, diabolos
and tops ; there were gingham dogs and calico
cats ; camels, elephants and fierce tigers ; and a
thousand other toys, if only he had had other
children to share them with him. But none of
them pleased him. They lacked that subtile
something which was necessary to minister to
the peculiar genius of the child.

ll6 Court Life in China

Among the foreign toys there were some in
which there was concealed a secret spring which
seemed to impart life to the otherwise dead
plaything. Wind them up and they would
move of their own energy. This was what the
boy needed, — something to appeal to that ma-
chine-loving disposition which nature had given
him, and Budge and Toddy were never more
curious to know “ what made the wheels go
round ” than was little Tsai Tien. He played
with them as toys until overcome by curiosity,
when, like many another child, he tore them
apart and discovered the secret spring. This
was as much of a revelation to the eunuchs as
to the child, and they went and bought other
toys of a more curious pattern, and a more
intricate design, and it was not long until, at the
instigation of the enterprising Dane, the toy-
shops of Europe were manufacturing play-
things specially designed to please the almond-
eyed baby Emperor in the yellow-tiled palace in
Peking.

As the child grew the business of the Dane
shopkeeper increased. His stock became larger
and more varied, and Tsai Tien continued to be
a profitable customer. There were music boxes
and music carts — real music carts, not like those
from the Chinese shops, — trains of cars, wheeled
boats, striking clocks and Swiss watches which,
when the stem was pulled, would strike the hour

Kuang Hsii — His Self-Development 117

or half or quarter, and all these were bought in
turn by the eunuchs and taken into the palace.
As the Emperor grew to boyhood the Danish
shopkeeper supplied toys suitable to his years
from his inexhaustible shelves, until all the most
intricate and wonderful toys of Europe, suitable
for a boy, had passed through the hands of
Kuang Hsii, — “ continued brilliancy,” as his
name implied — and he seemed to be making
good the meaning of his name.

We would not lead any one to believe that
Kuang Hsii was an ideal child. He was not.
If we may credit the reports that came from the
palace in those days, he had a temper of his own.
If he were denied anything he wanted, he would
lie down on his baby back on the dirty ground
and kick and scream and literally “ raise the
dust ” until he got it. My wife tells me that not
infrequently when she called at the Chinese
homes, and they set before her a dish of which
she was especially fond, and she had eaten of it
as much as she thought she ought, the ladies
would ask in a good-natured way in reply to
some of her remarks about her voracious appetite,
“ Shall we get down and knock our heads on the
floor, and beg you not to eat too much, and
make yourself sick, like the eunuchs do to the
Emperor? ” There is nothing to wonder at that
Kuang Hsii, without parental restraint, and
fawned upon by cringing eunuchs and serv-

Il8 Court Life in China

ing maids, should have been a spoiled child ;
the wonder is that he was not worse than he
was.

One day in 1901 while the court was absent at
Hsian, and the front gate of the Forbidden City
was guarded by our “ boys in blue,” I obtained a
pass and visited the imperial palace. The apart-
ments of the Emperor consisted of a series of one-
story Chinese buildings, with paper windows
around a large central pane of glass, tile roof and
brick floor. The east part of the building ap-
peared to be the living-room, about twenty by
twenty-five feet. The window on the south side
extended the entire length of the room, and was
filled with clocks from end to end. There were
clocks of every description from the finest French
cloisonne to the most intricate cuckoo clocks
from which a bird hopped forth to announce the
hour, and each ticking its own time regardless
of every other. Tables were placed in various
parts of the room, on each of which were one,
two or three clocks. Swiss watches of the most
curious and unique designs hung about the walls.
Two sofas sat back to back in the centre of the
room, and a beautiful little gilt desk on which
was the most wonderful of all his clocks, with
several large foreign chairs upholstered in plush
and velvet, completed the furniture. I sat down
in one of these chairs to rest, for it was a hot
summer day, and immediately there proceeded

Kuang Ksii — His Self-Development 119

from beneath me sweet strains of music from a
box concealed beneath the cushion. It was not
only a surprise, it was soothing and restful ; and
I was prepared to see an electric fan pop out of
somewhere and fan me to sleep. It was really
an Oriental fairy tale of an apartment.

As Kuang Hsii grew to boyhood he heard that
out in this great wonderful world, which he had
never seen except with the eyes of a child, there
was a method of sending messages to distant
cities and provinces with the rapidity of a flash
of lightning. For centuries he and his ancestors
had been sending their edicts, and their Peking
Gazette or court newspaper — the oldest journal
in the world — by runner, or relays of post horses,
and the possibility of sending them by a light-
ning flash appealed to him. He believed in do-
ing things, and, as we shall see later, he wanted
to do them as rapidly as they could be done.
He therefore ordered that a telegraph outfit be
secured for him, which he “ played with ” as he
had done with his most ingenious toys, and the
telegraph was soon established for court use
throughout the empire.

One day a number of officials came to us at
the Peking University and in the course of a
conversation they said :

“The Emperor has heard that the foreigners
have invented a talk box. Is that true ? ”

“ Quite true,” we replied, “ and as we have one

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in the physical laboratory of the college we will
let you see it.”

We had one of the old Edison phonographs
which worked with a pedal, and looked very-
much like a sewing-machine, and we took them
to the laboratory, allowed one of them to talk
into it, and then set the machine to repeating
what had been told it. The officials were de-
lighted and it was not long until they again ap-
peared and insisted on buying it as a present for
the Emperor, for in this way better than any other
they might hope to obtain official recognition and
position.

The Emperor then heard that the foreigners had
invented a “ fire-wheel cart,” but whether he had
ever been informed that they had built a small
railroad at Wu-Sung near Shanghai, and that the
Chinese had bought it, and then torn it up and
thrown it into the river we cannot say. There
are many things the officials and people do which
never reach the imperial ears. However that
may be, when Kuang Hsii heard of the railroad
and the carts that were run by fire, he wanted one,
and he would not be satisfied until they had built
a narrow gauge railroad along the west shore of
the lotus lake in the Forbidden City, and the fac-
tories of Europe had made two small cars and an
engine on which he could take the court ladies
for a ride on this unusual merry-go-round. The
road and the cars and the engine were still there

Kuang Hsii — His Self-Development 121

when I visited the Forbidden City in 1901, but they
were carried away to Europe by some of the allies
as precious bits of loot, before the court returned.

Not long after he had heard of the railroads,
he was told that the foreigners also had “ fire-
wheel boats.” Of course he wanted some, and
as I crossed the beautiful marble bridge that spans
the lotus lake, I saw anchored near by three
small steam launches which had evidently been
used a good deal. I saw similar launches in the
lake at the Summer Palace, and was told that in
the play days of his boyhood, Kuang Hsu would
have these launches hitched to the imperial
barges and take the ladies of the court for pleas-
ure trips about the lake in the cool of the
summer evenings, as the Empress Dowager did
her foreign visitors in later times.

The Emperor in those days was on the lookout
for everything foreign that was of a mechanical
nature. Indeed every invention interested him.
In this respect he was diametrically opposite to
the genius of the whole Chinese people. Their
faces had ever been turned backward, and their
highest hopes were that they might approximate
the golden ages of the past, and be equal in
virtue to their ancestors. This feeling was so
strong that a hundred years before he mounted
the throne, his forefather, Chien Lung, when he
had completed his cycle of sixty years as a ruler,
vacated in favour of his son lest he should reign

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longer than his grandfather. Kuang Hsii was
therefore the first occupant of the dragon throne
whose face was turned to the future, and whose
chief aim was to possess and to master every
method that had enabled the peoples of the West
to humiliate his people.

When he heard that the foreigners had a method
of talking to a distance of ten, twenty, fifty or
five hundred miles, he did not say like the old
farmer is reported to have said, — “ It caint be
trew, because my son John kin holler as loud
as any man in all this country, an’ he caint be
heerd mor’n two miles.” Kuang Hsii believed
it, and at once ordered that a telephone be
secured for him.

In 1894 the Christian women of China decided
to present a New Testament to the Empress
Dowager on her sixtieth birthday which occurred
the following year. New type was prepared, the
finest foreign paper secured, and the book was
made after the best style of the printer’s art,
with gilt borders, gilt edges, and bound in silver
of an embossed bamboo pattern and encased in
a silver box. It was then enclosed in a red plush
box, — red being the colour indicating happiness,
— which was in turn encased in a beautifully
carved teak-wood box, and this was enclosed in
an ordinary box and taken by the English and
American ministers to the Foreign Office to be
sent in to Her Majesty

Kuang Hsii — His Self-Development 123

The next day the Emperor sent to the American
Bible Society for copies of the Old and New Testa-
ments, such as were being sold to his people. A
few days thereafter a Chinese friend — a horticul-
turist and gardener who went daily to the
palace with flowers and vegetables — came to
me in confidence as though bearing an impor-
tant secret, and said :

“ Something of unusual importance is taking
place in the palace.”

“ Indeed ? ” said I ; “ what makes you think
so?”

” Heretofore when I have gone into the
palace,” said he, “ the eunuchs have treated me
with indifference. Yesterday they sat down and
talked in a most familiar and friendly way, ask-
ing me all about Christianity. I told them what
I could and they continued their conversation
until long after noon. I finally became so hungry
that I arose to come home. They urged me to
stay, bringing in a feast, and inviting me to dine
with them, and they kept me there till evening.
One of them told me that the Emperor is study-
ing the Gospel of Luke.”

“ How does he know that ? ” I inquired.

“ That is what I asked him,” he answered,
“ and he told me that he is one of the Emperor’s
private servants, and that His Majesty has a part
of the Gospel copied in large characters on a sheet
of paper each day, which he spreads out on the

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table before him, and this eunuch, standing be-
hind his chair, can read what he is studying.”

On further inquiry I discovered that there was
no other way that the eunuch could have learned
about the Gospel, except in the way indicated.
This man was invited to dine with the eunuchs
day after day until he had told them all he knew
about Christianity, after which they requested
him to bring in the pastor of the church of which
he was a member, and who was one of my
former pupils, to dine with them and tell them
more about the Gospel. The pastor hesitated to
accept the invitation, but as it was repeated day
after day, he finally accompanied the horticul-
turist.

When offered wine at dinner the pastor re-
fused it, at which the eunuch remarked : “ Oh,

yes, I have heard that you Christians do not
drink wine,” and like a polite host, the wine was
put aside and none was drunk at the dinner.
During the afternoon they took their guests to
visit some of the imperial buildings, advanced
the sum of three hundred dollars to the horti-
culturist to enlarge his plant, and gave various
presents to the pastor.

It must not be inferred from this that the
Emperor was becoming a Christian. Very far
from it, though the interest he took in the Chris-
tian doctrine set the people to studying about it,
not only in Peking but throughout many of the

Kuang Hsu — His Self-Development 125

provinces, as was indicated at the time by the
number of Christian books sold. As early as
1891 he issued a strong edict ordering the pro-
tection of the missionaries in which he made
the following statement ; “ The religions of the

West have for their object the inculcation of
virtue, and, though our people become con-
verted, they continue to be Chinese subjects.
There is no reason why there should not be
harmony between the people and the adherents
of foreign religions.” The Chinese reported
that he sometimes examined the eunuchs, li-
ning them up in classes and catechising them
from the books read.

One day three of the eunuchs called on me
with this same horticulturist, for the purpose no
doubt of seeing a foreigner, and to get a glimpse
of the home in which he lived. One of them
was younger than the other two and above the
average intelligence of his class. A few days
later the horticulturist told me a story which
illustrates a phase of the Emperor’s character
which we have already hinted at — his impulsive
nature and ungovernable temper. He had
ordered a number of the eunuchs to appear
before him, all of whom except this young man
were unable to come, because engaged in other
duties. When the eunuch got down on his hands
and knees to kotow or knock his head to His
Majesty, the latter kicked him in the mouth,

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Court Life in China

cutting his lip and otherwise injuring him, and
my informant added :

“What kind of a man is that to govern a
country, a man who punishes those who obey
his orders ? ” Indeed there was a good deal of
feeling among the Chinese at that time that the
Empress Dowager ought to punish the Emperor
as a good mother does a bad child, though in
the light of all the other things he did, he was to
be pitied more than blamed for a disposition thus
inherited and developed.

It was about this time he began the study of
English. He ordered that two teachers be ap-
pointed, and contrary to all former customs he
allowed them to sit rather than kneel while they
taught him. At the time they were selected I
was exchanging lessons in English for Chinese
with the grandson of one of these teachers, and
learned a good deal about the progress the
young man was making. He was in such a
hurry to begin that he could not wait to send
to England or America for books, and so the
officials visited the various schools and missions
in search of proper primers for a beginner.
When they visited us we made a thorough
search and finally Dr. Marcus L. Taft discovered
an attractively illustrated primer which he had
taken to China with him for his little daughter
Frances, and this was sent to Kuang Hsii.

One day a eunuch called on me saying that

Kuang Hsu — His Self-Development 127

the Emperor had learned that the various institu-
tions of learning, educational associations, tract
and other societies had published a number of
books in Chinese which they had translated from
the European languages. I was at that time the
custodian of two or three of these societies and
had a great variety of Chinese books in my
possession. I therefore sent him copies of our
astronomy, geology, zoology, physiology and
various other scientific books which I was at
that time teaching in the university.

The next day he called again, accompanied
by a coolie who brought me a present of a ham
cooked at the imperial kitchen, together with
boxes of fruit and cakes, which, not being a man
of large appetite, I thanked him for, tipped the
coolie, and after he had gone, turned them over
to our servants, who assured me that imperial
meat was very palatable. Day after day for six
weeks this eunuch visited me, and would never
leave until I had found some new book for His
Majesty. They might be literary, scientific or
religious works, and he made no distinction be-
tween the books of any sect or society, institution
or body, but with an equal zeal he sought them
all. I was sometimes reduced to a sheet tract,
and finally I was forced to take my wife’s Chinese
medical books out of her private library and send
them in to the Emperor. I learned that other
eunuchs were visiting other persons in charge of

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other books, and that at this time Kuang Hsii
bought every book that had been translated from
any European language and published in the
Chinese.

One day the eunuch saw my wife’s bicycle
standing on the veranda and said :

“ What kind of a cart is that ? ”

“ That is a self moving cart,” I answered.

“ How do you ride it ? ” he inquired.

I took the bicycle off the veranda, rode about
the court a time or two, while he gazed at me
with open mouth, and when I stopped he ejacu-
lated :

“ That’s queer ; why doesn’t it fall down ? ”

” When a thing’s moving,” I answered, “ it
can’t fall down,” which might apply to other
things than bicycles.

The next day when he called he said ;

“ The Emperor would like that bicycle,” and my
wife allowed him to take it in to Kuang Hsii, and
it was not long thereafter until it was reported
that the Emperor had been trying to ride the
bicycle, that his queue had become entangled in
the rear wheel, and that he had had a not very
royal tumble, and had given it up, — as many
another one has done.

Kuang Hsii — As Emperor and Reformer

In 1891 the present Emperor Kuang Hsii issued a very
strong edict commanding good treatment of the mission-
aries. He therein made the following statement : “ The

religions of the West have for their object the inculcation
of virtue, and, though our people become converted, they
continue to be Chinese subjects. There is no reason why
there should not be harmony between the people and the
adherents of foreign religions.”

— Mon. Charles Denby in China and Her People''

IX

KUANG HSti— AS EMPEROR AND REFORMER

S a man, there are few characters in

Chinese history that are more interest-

X ing than Kuang Hsii. He had all the
caprices of genius with their corresponding weak-
ness and strength. He could wield a pen with
the vigour of a Caesar, threaten his greatest
viceroys, dismiss his leading conservative offi-
cials, introduce the most sweeping and far-
reaching reforms that have ever been thought
of by the Chinese people, and then run from a
woman as though the very devil was after him.

He has been variously rated as a genius, an
imbecile and a fool. Let us grant that he was
not brilliant. Let us rate him as an imbecile,
and then let us try to account for his having
brought into the palace every ingenious toy and
every wonderful and useful invention and dis-
covery of the past twenty or thirty years with the
exception of the X-rays and liquid air. Let us
try to explain why it was that an imbecile would
purchase every book that had been printed in the
Chinese language, concerning foreign subjects of
learning, up to the time when he was dethroned.
Let us tell why it was that an imbecile would

132 Court Life in China

study all those foreign books without help, with-
out an assistant, without a teacher, for three
years, from the time he bought them in 1895 till
1898, before he began issuing the most remark-
able series of edicts that have ever come from the
pen of an Oriental monarch in the same length
of time. And let us explain how it was that an
imbecile could embody in his edicts of two or
three months all the important principles that
were necessary to launch the great reforms of the
past ten years.

I doubt if any Chinese monarch has ever had a
more far-reaching influence over the minds of
the young men of the empire than Kuang Hsii had
from 1895 till 1898. The preparation for this in-
fluence had been going on for twenty or thirty
years previously in the educational institutions
established by the missions and the government.
From these schools there had gone out a great
number of young men who had taken positions
in all departments of business, and many of the
state, and revealed to the officials as well as to
many of the people the power of foreign educa-
tion. An imperial college had been established
by the customs service for the special education
of young men for diplomatic and other positions,
from which there had gone out young men who
were the representatives of the government as
consuls or ministers in the various countries of
Europe and America.

Kuang Hsii — As Emperor and Reformer 133

The fever for reading the same books that
Kuang Hsii had read was so great as to tax to
the utmost the presses of the port cities to supply
the demand, and the leaders of some of the pub-
lication societies feared that a condition had
arisen for which they were unprepared. Books
written by such men as Drs. Allen, Mateer, Mar-
tin, Williams and Legge were brought out in
pirated photographic reproductions by the book-
shops of Shanghai and sold for one-tenth the cost
of the original work. Authors, to protect them-
selves, compelled the pirates to deliver over the
stereotype plates they had made on penalty of
being brought before the officials in litigation if
they refused. But during the three years the
Emperor had been studying these foreign books,
hundreds of thousands of young scholars all over
the empire had been doing the same, preparing
themselves for whatever emergency the studies
of the young Emperor might bring about.

One day during the early spring a young
Chinese reformer came to me to get a list of the
best newspapers and periodicals published in
both England and America. I inquired the rea-
son for this strange move, and he said :

“ The young Chinese reformers in Peking have
organized a Reform Club. Some of them read
and speak English, others French, others Ger-
man and still others Russian, and we are provi-
ding ourselves with all the leading periodicals of

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these various countries that we may read and
study them. W e have rented a building, prepared
rooms, and propose to have a club where we can
assemble whenever we have leisure, for conver-
sation, discussion, reading, lectures or whatever
will best contribute to the ends we have in view.”

“And what are those ends? ” I inquired.

“ The bringing about of a new regime in
China,” he answered. “ Our recent defeat by
the Japanese has shown us that unless some
radical changes are made we must take a second
place among the peoples of the Orient.”

“ This is a new move in Peking, is it not ? ”

“ New in Peking,” he answered, “ but not new
in the empire. Reform clubs are being organ-
ized in all the great cities and capitals. In Hsian,
books have been purchased by all classes from
the governor of the province down to the hum-
blest scholar, and the aristocracy have organized
classes, and are inviting the foreigners to lecture
to them. Every one, except a few of the oldest
conservative scholars, are discarding their Confu-
cian theories and reconstructing their ideas in
view of present day problems. There is an in-
tellectual fermentation now going on from which
a new China is certain to be evolved, and we
propose to be ready for it when it comes.”

The leader of this reform party was Kang
Yii-wei, a young Cantonese, who had made a
thorough study of the reforms of Peter the Great

Kuang HsU — As Emperor and Reformer 135

in Russia, and the more recent reforms in Japan,
the history of which he had prepared in two
volumes which he sent to the Emperor. He had
made a reputation for himself in his native place
as a “ Modem Sage and Reformer,” was hailed
as a ” young Confucius,” was appointed a third-
class secretary in the Board of Works, and as
the Emperor and he had been studying on the
same lines, Kang, through the influence of the
brother of the chief concubine, was introduced to
His Majesty. He had a three hours’ conference
with the Foreign Office, in which he urged that
China should imitate Japan, and that the old
conservative ministers and viceroys should be re-
placed by young men imbued with Western
ideas, who might confer with the Emperor daily
in regard to all kinds of reform measures.

This interview was reported to Kuang Hsii by
Prince Kung and Jung Lu, who both being old,
and one of them the greatest of the conservatives,
could hardly be expected to approve of his theo-
ries. Kang, however, was asked to embody his
suggestions in a memorial, was later given an
audience with the Emperor, and finally called
into the palace to assist him in the reforms he
had already undertaken. And if Kang Y ii- wei had
been as great a statesman as he was reformer,
Kuang Hsii might never have been deposed.

The crisis came during the summer of 1898.
I had taken my family to the seashore to spend

Court Life in China

136

our summer vacation. A young Chinese scholar
— a Hanlin — who had been studying in the uni-
versity for some years, and with whom I was
translating a work on psychology, had gone with
me. He took the Peking Gazette, which he read
daily, and commented upon with more or less
interest, until June 23d, when an edict was issued
abolishing the literary essay of the old regime as
a part of the government examination, and sub-
stituting therefor various branches of the new
learning. “We have been compelled to issue
this decree,” said the Emperor, “ because our ex-
aminations have reached the lowest ebb, and we
see no remedy for these matters except to change
entirely the old methods for a new course of com-
petition.”

“What do you think of that?” I asked the
Hanlin.

“ The greatest step that has ever yet been
taken,” he replied.

This Hanlin w'as not a radical reformer, but
one of a long line of officials who were deeply
interested in the preservation of their country
which had weathered the storms of so many
centuries, — storms which had wrecked Assyria,
Babylonia, Media, Egypt, Greece and Rome,
while China, though growing but little, had still
lived. He was one of those progressive states-
men who have alw'ays been found among a
strong minority in the Middle Kingdom.

Kuang Hsu — As Emperor and Reformer 137

The Peking Gasette continued to come daily
bringing with it the following twenty-seven de-
crees in a little more than twice that many days.
I will give an epitome of the decrees that the
reader at a glance may see what the Emperor un-
dertook to do. Summarized they are as follows :

1. The establishment of a university at Pe-
king.

2. The sending of imperial clansmen to for-
eign countries to stud}^ the forms and conditions
of European and American government.

3. The encouragement of the arts, sciences
and modern agriculture.

4. The Emperor expressed himself as willing
to hear the objections of the conservatives to
progress and reform.

5. Abolished the literary essay as a promi-
nent part of the governmental examinations.

6. Censured those who attempted to delay the
establishment of the Peking Imperial University.

7. Urged that the Lu-Han railway should be
prosecuted with more vigour and expedition.

8. Advised the adoption of Western arms and
drill for all the Tartar troops.

9. Ordered the establishment of agricultural
schools in all the provinces to teach the farmers
improved methods of agriculture.

10. Ordered the introduction of patent and
copyright laws.

11. The Board of War and Foreign Office

138 Court Life in China

were ordered to report on the reform of the mili-
tary examinations,

12. Special rewards were offered to inventors
and authors.

13. The officials were ordered to encourage
trade and assist merchants.

14. School boards were ordered established
in every city in the empire.

15. Bureaus of Mines and Railroads were
established.

16. Journalists were encouraged to write on
all political subjects.

17. Naval academies and training-ships were
ordered.

18. The ministers and provincial authorities
were called upon to assist — nay were begged to
make some effort to understand what he was
trying to do and help him in his efforts at reform.

19. Schools were ordered in connection with
all the Chinese legations in foreign countries for
the benefit of the children of Chinese in those
places.

20. Commercial bureaus were ordered in
Shanghai for the encouragement of trade.

21. Six useless Boards in Peking were abol-
ished.

22. The right to memorialize the throne in
sealed memorials was granted to all who desired
to do so.

23. Two presidents and four vice-presidents

Kuang Hsli — As Emperor and Reformer 139

of the Board of Rites were dismissed for disobey-
ing the Emperor’s orders that memorials should
be allowed to come to him unopened.

24. The governorships of Hupeh, Kuangtung,
and Yunnan were abolished as being a useless
expense to the country.

25. Schools of instruction in the preparation
of tea and silk were ordered established.

26. The slow courier posts were abolished in
favour of the Imperial Customs Post.

27. A system of budgets as in Western coun-
tries was approved.

I have given these decrees in this epitomized
form so that all those who are interested in the
character of this reform movement in China may
understand something of the influence the young
Emperor’s study had had upon him. Grant that
they followed one another in too close proximity,
yet still it must be admitted by every careful
student of them, that there is not one that would
not have been of the greatest possible benefit to
the country if they had been put into operation.
If the Emperor had been allowed to proceed,
making them all as effective as he did the Im-
perial University, and if the ministers and pro-
vincial authorities had responded to his call, and
had made “some effort to understand what he
was trying to do,” China might have by this time
been close upon the heels of Japan in the adop-
tion of Western ideas.

140

Court Life in China

As the edicts continued to come out in such
quick succession my Hanlin friend became
alarmed. He came to me one day after the
Emperor had censured the officials for trying to
delay the establishment of the Imperial Uni-
versity and said :

“ I must return to Peking.”

“Why return so soon?” I inquired.

“ There is going to be trouble if the Emperor
continues his reform at this rate of speed,” he
answered.

It was when the Emperor had issued the sixth
of his twenty-seven decrees that this young
Chinese statesman made this observation. If
his most intimate advisers had had the per-
spicuity to have foreseen the final outcome of
such precipitance might they not have advised
the Emperor to have proceeded more deliber-
ately ? When one remembers how China had
been worsted by Japan, how all her prestige was
swept away, how, from having been the parent
of the Oriental family of nations, a desirable
friend or a dangerous enemy, she was stripped
of all her glory, and left a helpless giant with
neither strength nor power, one can easily un-
derstand the eagerness of this boy of twenty-
seven to restore her to the pedestal from which
she had been ruthlessly torn.

Another reason for his haste may be found in
the seizure of his territory by the European

Kuang Hsli — As Emperor and R.eformer 141

powers. A few months before he began his re-
forms two German priests were murdered by an
irresponsible mob in the province of Shantung.
With this as an excuse Germany landed a bat-
talion of marines at Kiaochou, a port of that
province, which she took with fifty miles of the
surrounding territory. As though this were not
enough, she demanded the right to build all
the railroads and open all the mines in the
entire province, and compelled the Chinese to
pay an indemnity to the families of the murdered
priests and rebuild the church and houses the
mob had destroyed. China appealed to Russia
who had promised to protect her against all in-
vaders. Instead of coming to her aid, however,
Russia demanded a similar cession of Port
Arthur, Talienwan and the surrounding territory
which she had refused to allow Japan to retain
two years before. Not to be outdone by the
others, France demanded and received a similar
strip of territory at Kuang-chou-wan ; and Eng-
land found that Wei-hai-wei would be indispen-
sable as a kennel from which she could guard
the Russian bear on the opposite shore, but why
she should have found it necessary also to de-
mand from China four hundred miles of land
and water around Hongkong was no doubt dif-
ficult for Kuang Hsii to understand.

When the Empress Dowager turned over the
reins of government to her nephew she did it

142

Court Life in China

very much as a father would place the reins in
the hands of a child whom he was teaching to
drive an important vehicle on a dangerous road
— she sat behind him still holding the reins.
Among the things reserved were that he should
kotow to her once every five days whether she
were in Peking or at the Summer Place, and she
reserved such seals of office as made it necessary
for all the highest officials to come and express
their obligations to her at the same time they
came to thank the Emperor. While Kuang
Hsii may have been reconciled to the perform-
ance of these duties at eighteen, they became
irksome at twenty-seven and he demanded and
received full liberty in the affairs of state.

We have seen how he used his liberty, — not
wisely, perhaps, as a reformer, and yet the ref-
ormation of China can never be written without
giving the credit of its inception to Kuang Hsu.
He was very different from Hsien Feng the hus-
band of the Empress Dowager before whose
death we are told “ the whole administrative
power was vested in the hands of a council of
eight, whilst he himself spent his time in ways
that were by no means consistent with those
that ought to have characterized the ruler of a
great and powerful nation.” Whatever else
may be said of Kuang Hsii, he cannot be ac-
cused of indolence, extravagance, or indifference
to the welfare of his country or his people.

Kuang Hsii — As Emperor and Reformer 143

Appreciating the difficulty of securing an ex-
pression of opinion from those opposed to his
views, and thus getting both sides of the ques-
tion, in his fourth edict he requested the con-
servatives to send in their objections to his
schemes for progress and reform, and then as if
to get the broadest possible expression of
opinion he adopted a Shanghai journal called
Chinese Progress as the official organ of the
government. But lest this be insufficient, in his
twenty-second edict he gave the right to all
officials to address the throne in sealed memo-
rials.

There was at this time a third-class secretary
of the Board of Rites named Wang Chao who
sent in a memorial in which he advocated :

1. The abolition of the queue.

2. The changing of the Chinese style of dress
to that of the West.

3. The adoption of Christianity as a state
religion.

4. A prospective national parliament.

5. A journey to Japan by the Emperor and
Empress Dowager.

The Board of Rites opened and read this
memorial, and, astounded at its boldness, they
summoned the offender before them, and ordered
him to withdraw his paper. This he refused to
do and the two presidents and four vice-presi-
dents of the Board accompanied it with a

144

Court Life in China

counter memorial denouncing him to the Em-
peror as a man who was making narrow-minded
and wild suggestions to His Majesty.

Partly because they had opened and read the
memorial and partly because of their effort to
prevent freedom of speech, Kuang Hsii issued
another edict explaining why he had invited
sealed memorials, and censuring them for ex-
plaining to him what was narrow-minded and
wild, as if he lacked the intelligence to grasp that
feature of the paper. He then turned them all
over to the Board of Civil Office ordering that
body to decide upon a suitable punishment for
their offense, and assuring them that if they made
it too mild, his righteous wrath would fall upon
them. The latter decided that they be degraded
three steps and removed to posts befitting their
lowered rank, but the Emperor revised the sen-
tence and dismissed them all from office, and
this was the beginning of his downfall.

The Empress Dowager had been spending the
hot season at the Summer Palace, and during the
two months and more that the Emperor had been
struggling with his reform measures, she gave
no indication, either by word or deed, that she
was opposed to anything that he had done. And
I think that all her acts, from that time till the
close of the Boxer insurrection, can be explained
without placing her in opposition to his theories
of progress and reform.

Kuang Hsli — As Emperor and Reformer 145

So long as the Emperor devoted himself to the
creation of new offices he found little active op-
position on the part of the conservatives, while
the reformers did everything in their power to
encourage him. The extent of the movement it
is not easy to estimate. It opened up the in-
tensely anti-foreign province of Hupeh, and
transformed it into a section where railroads
were to be built connecting the north with the
south. It opened up the great mining province
of Shansi and the lumber regions of Manchuria.
It started railroads which are now lines of trade
for the whole empire.

When he issued the fifth edict substituting
Western science for the literary essay in the great
examinations, letters and telegrams began to
pour in upon us at the Peking University from all
parts of the empire, asking us to reserve room
for the senders in the school. Their tuition was
enclosed in their letters, and among those who
came were the grandson of the Emperor’s tutor,
graduates of various degrees, men of rank, and
the sons of wealthy gentlemen who had not yet
obtained degrees. Numerous requests came to
our graduates to teach English in official families,
one being employed to teach the grandson of Li
Hung-chang, and another the sons of a relative
of the royal family.

But when his reforms led the Emperor to dis-
pense with useless offices, as in his twenty-first,

Court Life in China

146

twenty-fourth and twenty-sixth edicts, for the pur-
pose of retrenchment, and to dismiss recalcitrant
officials for disobedience to his commands, a
howl arose which was heard throughout the em-
pire. The six members of the Board of Rites dis-
missed in edict twenty-three, with certain sym-
pathizers to give them face, went to the Empress
Dowager at the Summer Palace, represented to
her that the boy whom she had placed upon the
throne was steering the ship of state to certain
destruction, and begged that she would come
and once more take the helm. She listened to
them with the attention and deference for which
she has always been famed, and then dismissed
them without any intimation as to what her course
would be.

When the Emperor heard what they were do-
ing, he sent a courier post-haste to call Yiian
Shih-kai for an interview at the palace. When
Yiian came, he ordered him to return to Tien-
tsin, dispose of his superior officer, the Governor-
General Jung Lu, and bring the army corps of
12,500 troops of which he was in charge to Pe-
king, surround the Summer Palace, preventing
any one from going in or coming out, thus ma-
king the Empress Dowager a prisoner, and allow-
ing him to go on with his work of reform.

It is just here that we see the difference in the
statesmanship of the Empress Dowager and the
Emperor. When she appointed these two offi-

Kuang Hsii — As Emperor and Reformer 147

dais, one a liberal in charge of the army, she
placed the other, a conservative, as his superior
officer, so that one could not move without the
knowledge and consent of the other, thus fore-
stalling just such an order as this. To obey this
order of the boy Emperor, Yiian must commit
two great crimes, murder and treason, the one
on a superior officer, and the other against her
who had appointed him to office and who had
been the ruler of the country for thirty-seven years,
either of which would have been sufficient to have
execrated him not only in the eyes of his own peo-
ple but of history and of the world. Nay more,
had he obeyed this order, the conservatives would
have raised the cry of rebellion, and an army ten
times greater than he could have mustered, would
have crushed Yuan and his little company of
12,500 men, on the plea that he was about to
take the throne.

Yiian then did the only wise thing he could
have done. He went to Jung Lu, without whose
consent he had no right to move, showed him
the order, and asked for his commands. Jung
Lu told him to leave the order with him, and as
soon as Yiian had departed he took the train for
Peking, called on Prince Ching, and they two
went to the Summer Palace and showed the
order to Her Majesty, suggesting to her that it
might be well for her to come into the city and
give him a few lessons in government.

148 Court Life in China

As the Empress Dowager had been behaving
herself so circumspectly during all the summer
months, allowing the Emperor to test himself as
a ruler, one can scarcely blame her for not want-
ing to be bottled up in the Summer Palace when
she had done nothing to deserve it. When
therefore this second delegation of officials, con-
sisting of the two highest in rank in the empire,
came to request her to once more take charge of
the government, she called her sedan chair and
started for the capital. She went without an
army, but was accompanied by those of her
palace eunuchs on whom she could implicitly
depend, and enough of them to overcome those
of the Emperor in case there should be trouble.
That force was necessary is evident from the
fact that she condemned to death a number of
his servants after she had taken the throne.

When the Emperor heard that she was com-
ing he sent a messenger with letters urging Kang
Yii-wei to flee, and to devise some means for
saving the situation, while he attempted to find
refuge for himself in the foreign legations. This
however he failed to do, but was taken by the
Empress Dowager, and his career as a ruler
ended, and his life as a prisoner began.

X

Kuang Hsu — As a Prisoner

Kuang Hsu deserves a place in history as the prize
iconoclast. He sent a cold shiver down the spine of the
literati by declaring that a man’s fitness for office should
not depend upon his ability to write a poem, or upon the
elegance of his penmanship. This was too much. The
literati argued that at the rate at which the Emperor was
going, it might be expected that he would do away with
chop-sticks and dispense with the queue.

— Rounsevelle Wildman in ^'China's Open Door."

X

KUANG HSU— AS A PRISONER

The year that Kuang Hsii ascended the
throne a great calamity occurred in
Peking. The Temple of Heaven — the
greatest of the imperial temples, the one at
which the Emperor announces his accession,
confesses his sins, prays and gives thanks for an
abundant harvest, was struck by lightning and
burned to the ground. When the Emperor wor-
ships here it is as the representative of the people,
the high priest of the nation, and his prayers are
offered for his country and not for himself.
There are no idols in this temple, and his
prayers go up to Shang-ti the Supreme Being
“ by whom kings reign and princes decree
justice.” When therefore instead of giving rain
Heaven sent down a fiery bolt to destroy the
temple at which the Son of Heaven prays, the
people were struck with dismay.

The pale faces of the women, the apprehen-
sive noddings of the men, and the hushed voices
of our old Confucian teachers as they spoke of
the matter, indicated the concern with which
they viewed it. Here was a boy who had been

151

152

Court Life in China

placed upon the throne by a woman ; he was the
same generation as the Emperor who had pre-
ceded him, and hence could not worship him as
his ancestor. It augured ill both for the Em-
peror and the empire, and so the boy Emperor
began his reign in the midst of evil forebodings.

During the nine years that Kuang Hsii had
nominal control of affairs a series of dire calami-
ties befell the empire. Famines as the result of
drought, floods from the overflow of “ China’s
Sorrow,” war with Japan, filching of territory
by the European countries, while editorials ap-
peared daily in the English papers of the port
cities to the effect that China was to be divided
up among the powers. Then too Kuang Hsii
was childless and there was no hope of his giving
an heir to the throne.

Times and seasons have their meanings for
the Chinese. Anything inauspicious happening
on New Year’s day is indicative of calamity.
Mr. Chen, a friend of mine, had become a Chris-
tian contrary to his mother’s wishes. When his
first child was born it was a girl, born on New
Year’s day. His mother shook her head, looked
distressed, and said that nothing but calamity
would come to his home. His second child was
a boy, but the old woman shook her head again
and sighed saying that it would take more than
one boy to avert the calamity of one’s first baby
being a girl born on New Year’s day, and it was

Kuang HsU — As a Prisoner 153

not until he had five boys in succession that she
was finally convinced.

There was an eclipse of the sun on New Year’s
day of 1898 which foreboded calamity to the Em-
peror. During the summer of this year he began
his great reform, and in September the Empress
Dowager took control of the affairs of state and
Kuang Hsii was put in prison, never again to
occupy the throne. His prison was his winter
palace, where, for many months, he was confined
in a gilded cage of a house, on a small island,
with the Empress Dowager’s eunuchs to guard
him. These w^ere changed daily lest they might
sympathize with their unhappy monarch and de-
vise some means for his liberation. Each day
when the guard was changed, the drawbridge
connecting the island with the mainland was re-
moved, leaving the Emperor to wander about
in the court of his palace-prison, or sit on the
southern terrace where it overlooked the lotus
lake, waiting, hoping and perhaps expecting
that his last appeal to Kang Yii-wei in which he
said : “ My heart is filled with a great sorrow

which pen and ink cannot describe ; you must go
abroad at once and without a moment’s delay
devise some means to save me,” might bring
forth some fruit.

Whether this confinement interfered with the
health of the Emperor or not it is impossible to
say, but from the first he was made to pose as

154

Court Life in China

an invalid. As his failing health was constantly
referred to in the Peking Gasette, the foreigners
began to fear that it was the intention to dispose
of the Emperor, and such pressure was brought
to bear on the government as led them to allow
the physician attached to the French legation
to enter the palace and make an examination of
His Majesty. He found nothing that fresh air
and exercise would not remedy and assured the
government that there was no cause for alarm,
and from that time we heard nothing more of his
precarious condition.

One day not long after the coup d'ktat a
eunuch came rushing into our compound, his
face scratched and bleeding, and knocking his
head on the ground before me, begged me to
save his life.

“What is the matter?” I inquired.

“ Oh ! let me join the church ! ” he pleaded.

“ What do you want to join the church for? ”
I asked.

“ To save my life,” he answered.

“ But what is this all about ? ” I urged, raising
him to his feet.

“You know the eunuch who came to you to
buy books,” he said.

I assured him that I knew him.

“ Well,” he continued, “ I am a friend of his.
The Empress Dowager has banished him, burned
all the books he bought for the Emperor, and

Kuang Hsu — As a Prisoner 155

I am in danger of losing my head. Let me join
the church, and thus save my life.”

All I could do was to inform him that this
was not the business of the church, and after
further conversation he left and I never saw him
again.

Day after day as the Emperor received the
Peking Gazette on his lonely island he saw one
after another of his coveted reforms vanish like
mist before the pen of his august aunt. Nor
was this all, for often the rescinding edicts ap-
peared under his own name, and by the New
Year, when he was brought forth to receive the
foreign ministers accredited to his court, scarcely
anything remained of all his reforms but the
Peking University and the provincial and other
schools. It is not to be wondered at therefore
that he was reticent and despondent. What
promises of good behaviour it was necessary
for him to make before he was even allowed
this much liberty, it is useless for us to con-
jecture.

Following this audience the Empress Dowager,
who up to this time had been seen by no foreigner
except Prince Henry of Prussia, decided to re-
ceive the wives of the foreign ministers. Her
motives for this new move it is impossible to de-
termine. It may have been to ascertain how the
foreign governments would treat her who had
been reported to have calmly ousted “ their great

Court Life in China

156

and good friend the Emperor,” to whom their
ministers were accredited. Or it may have been
that she hoped by this stroke of diplomacy to
gain some measure of recognition as head of the
government. She would at least see how she
was regarded.

The audience was an unqualified success. The
seven ladies received were charmed by the gra-
cious manner of their imperial hostess, who as-
sured them each as she touched her lips to the
tea which she presented to them that “ we are all
one family,” and up to that period of her life
there was nothing to indicate that she did not
feel that the sentiment she expressed was true.
Up to the time of the coup d' Hat, as Dr. Martin
says, “ she herself was noted for progressive
ideas.” “ It will not be denied by any one,”
says Colonel Denby, “that the improvement and
progress” described in his first volume, “are
mainly due to the will and power of the Empress
Regent. To her own people, up to this period in
her career, she was kind and merciful, and to
foreigners she was just.” From the time of her
return to the capital after their flight in 1900 till
the time of her death she became one of the
greatest reformers, if not the greatest, that has
ever sat upon the dragon throne. One cannot
but wish therefore in the interests of sentiment
that it were possible to overlook many things
she did from 1898 to 1900, which in the interests

157

Kuang Hsii — As a Prisoner

of truth it will be impossible to disregard. Never-
theless we should remember that she was driven
to these things by the filching of her territory by
the foreigners, and by the false pretentions of the
superstitious Boxers and their leaders, and in the
hope of preserving her country.

Her first act after imprisoning Kuang Hsii was
to offer a large reward for his adviser Kang Yii-
wei either alive or dead. Failing to get him,
“ she seized his younger brother Kang Kuang-
jen, and wdth five other noble and patriotic
young men of ability and high promise, he was
beheaded September 28th, while protesting that
though they might easily be slain, multitudes of
others would arise to take their places.” One of
my young Chinese friends who watched this pro-
cession on its way to the execution grounds told
me that, —

“ The scene was impossible to describe. These
five young reformers,” after expressing the senti-
ments quoted above from Dr. Smith, “reviled the
Empress Dowager and the conservatives in the
most blood-curdling manner.”

I have already spoken of Wang Chao the
secretary of the Board of Rites who presented
the memorial which caused the dismissal of the
six officials of that body, and, indirectly, the fall
of the Emperor. Some time before writing this
petition he called at our home requesting Mrs.
Headland to go and see his mother who was ill.

Court Life in China

158

When his mother recovered he sent her to
Shanghai, and at the time of the coup d’itat he
failed to get out of the city and went into hiding.
Some days afterwards a closed cart drove up to
our home and to our astonishment he stepped
forth. We expressed our surprise that he was
still in Peking, and asked :

“ Has the Empress Dowager ceased prose-
cuting her search for you reformers ? ”

“ Not yet,” he answered.

“ And what is she doing ? ” we inquired.

“ Killing some, banishing others, driving many
away from the capital, while still others are go-
ing into self-imposed exile.”

“ Does the Emperor know anything about
this ? ” we inquired.

“ No doubt,” he replied. ” Everybody knows
it, why not he ? ”

“That will make his imprisonment all the
harder to bear,” we suggested.

“ Quite right,” he answered.

“ There is general alarm in the city that the
Emperor himself will be disposed of ; what do
you think about it ? ”

“ Who can tell ? He has not a friend in the
palace except the first concubine, and, I am told,
that she like himself is kept in close confinement.
The Empress stands by her aunt, the Empress
Dowager, while the eunuchs now are all her
tools. The officials who go into the palace to

Kuang Hsii — As a Prisoner 159

audiences are all conservative and hence against
him, though I suppose they never see him.”

“ Do you suppose he ever sees the edicts is-
sued in his name ? ”

“Not at all. They are made by the conserva-
tives and the Empress Dowager and issued with-
out his knowledge.”

“And what do you propose to do?” we in-
quired.

“ I shall leave for Shanghai as soon as I can
safely do so,” he replied.

Before the year had passed the Empress Dow-
ager had been induced or compelled to select a
new Emperor. We cannot believe that she did
it of her own free will, and for several reasons.
First, the child selected was the son and the
grandson of ultra conservative princes, and we
cannot but believe that as she had placed herself
in the hands of the conservative party, it was
their selection rather than hers. Second, it must
have been a humiliation to her ever since she
discovered that her nephew, whom she had se-
lected and placed upon the throne in order to
keep the succession in her own family, being the
same generation as her son who had died, could
not worship him as his ancestor, and hence could
not legally occupy the throne, though as a matter
of fact such a condition is not unknown in Chi-
nese history.

But if her humiliation was great, that of our

l6o Court Life in China

boy-prisoner was still greater, for he was com-
pelled to witness an edict, proclaimed in his own
name, which made him say that as there was no
hope of his having a child of his own to succeed
him, he had requested the Empress Dowager to
select a suitable person who should be proclaimed
as the successor of Tung Chih, his predecessor,
thus turning himself out of the imperial line.
That this could not have been her choice is evi-
denced, further, by the fact that just as soon as
she had once more regained her power, she sur-
rounded herself with progressive officials, turned
out all the great conservatives except Jung Lu,
and dispossessing the son of Prince Tuan, at the
time of her death selected her sister’s grandchild
and proclaimed him successor to her son and
heir to the Emperor Kuang Hsii, in the following
edict :

“Inasmuch as the Emperor Tung Chih had no
issue, on the fifth day of the twelfth moon of that
reign (January 12, 1875) an edict was promul-
gated to the effect that if the late Emperor Kuang
Hsii should have a son, the said Prince should
carry on the succession as the heir of Tung Chih.
But now the late Emperor has ascended upon the
dragon to be a guest on high, leaving no son,
and there is no course open but to appoint Pu I,
the son of Tsai Feng, the Prince Regent, as the
successor to Tung Chih, and also as heir to the
Emperor Kuang Hsii,’’ which is quite in keeping

Kuang Hsii — As a Prisoner i6i

with the conduct and character of the Empress
Dowager all her life except those two bad years.

During the days and weeks following the dis-
possession of Kuang Hsii of the throne, in 1899
many decrees appeared which signified that at
no distant date he would be superseded by the
son of Prince Tuan, The foreign ministers began
again to look grave. They spoke openly of their
fear that Kuang Hsii’s days were numbered.
They pressed their desire for the usual New
Year’s audience, and once more the imprisoned
monarch was brought forth and made to sit upon
the throne and receive them. But when the la-
dies asked for an audience they were refused, the
Empress Dowager being too busy with affairs of
state. She was at that time seriously consider-
ing whether or not the government should cast
in its lot with the Boxers and drive all the for-
eigners with all their productions into the eastern
sea.

One of the princesses told Mrs. Headland that
before coming to a decision the Empress Dow-
ager called the hereditary and imperial princes
into the palace to consult with them as to what
they would better do. She met them all face to
face, the Emperor and Prince Tuan standing
near the throne. She explained to them the rav-
ages of the foreigners, how they were gradually
taking one piece after another of Chinese terri-
tory.

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Court Life in China

“ And now,” she continued, “ we have these
patriotic braves who claim to be impervious to
swords and bullets ; what shall we do ? Shall we
cast in our lot with their millions and drive all
these foreigners out of China or not ? ”

Prince Tuan, as father of the heir-apparent,
uneducated, superstitious and ignorant of all for-
eign affairs, then spoke. He said :

“ I have seen the Boxers drilling, I have heard
their incantations, and I believe that they will be
able to effect this much desired end. They will
either kill the foreigners or drive them out of the
country and no more will dare to come, and thus
we will be rid of them,”

The hereditary princes were then asked for an
expression of opinion. The majority of them
knew little of foreigners and foreign countries,
and as Prince Tuan, the father of the future Em-
peror, had expresssd himself so strongly, they
hesitated to offer an adverse opinion. But when
it came to Prince Su, a man of strong character,
widely versed in foreign affairs, and of independ-
ent thought, he opposed the measure most vig-
orously.

“Who,” he asked, “are these Boxers? Who
are their leaders ? How can they, a mere rabble,
hope to vanquish the armies of foreign nations?’

Prince Tuan answered that “ by their incanta-
tions they were able to produce heaven-sent sol-
diers.”

Kuang Hsli — As a Prisoner 163

Prince Su denounced such superstition as child-
ish. But when after further argument between
him and Prince Tuan the Empress Dowager as-
sured him that she had had them in the palace
and had witnessed their prowess, he said no more.

The imperial princes were then consulted, but
seeing how Prince Su had fared they were either
in favour of the measure or non-committal. Fi-
nally the Empress Dowager appealed to Prince
Ching who, more diplomatic than the younger
princes, answered :

“ I consider it a most dangerous undertaking,
and I would advise against it. But if Your Maj-
esty decides to cast in your lot with the Boxers I
will do all in my power to further your wishes.”

It is not a matter of wonder therefore that the
Empress Dowager should be led into such a
foolish measure as the Boxer movement, when
the Prince who had been president of the Foreign
Office for twenty-five years could so weakly ac-
quiesce in such an undertaking.

” The Emperor,” said the Princess, “ was not
asked for an expression of his opinion on this oc-
casion, but when he saw that the Boxer leaders
had won the day he burst into tears and left the
room.”

Similar meetings were held in the palace on
two other occasions, when the Emperor implored
that they make no attempt to fight all the foreign
nations, for said he, “ the foreigners are stronger

Court Life in China

164

than we, both in money and in arms, while their
soldiers are much better drilled and equipped in
every way. If we undertake this and fail as we
are sure to do, it will be impossible to make peace
with the foreigners and our country will be di-
vided up amongst them.” His pleadings, how-
ever, were disregarded, and after the meeting was
over, he had to return to his little island, where
for eight weeks he was compelled to sit listening
to the rattling guns, booming cannons and burst-
ing firecrackers, for the Boxers seemed to hope
to exterminate the foreigners by noise. He must
have felt from the books he had studied that it
could only result in disaster to his own people.

When the allies reached Peking and the Boxers
capitulated the Emperor was taken out of his
prison and compelled to flee with the court.

“What do you think of your bullet-proof
Boxers now? ” one can imagine they hear him say-
ing to his august aunt, as he sees her cutting off
her long finger nails, dressing herself in blue cot-
ton garments, and climbing into a common street
cart as an ordinary servant, “Wouldn’t it have
been better to have taken my advice and that of
Hsii Ching-cheng and Yiian Chang instead of
having put them to death for endeavouring in
their earnestness to save the country ? What
about your old conservative friends ? Can they
be depended upon as pillars of state ? ” Or some
other “ I-told-you-so ” language of this kind.

Kuang Hsii — As a Prisoner 165

From their exile in Hsian decrees continued to
be issued in his name, and when affairs began to
be adjusted, and the allies insisted on setting
aside forever the pretentions of the anti-foreign
Prince Tuan and his son, banishing the former
to perpetual exile, our hopes ran high that the
Emperor would be restored to his throne. But
to our disappointment the framers of the Protocol
contented themselves with the clause that :
“ Rational intercourse shall be permitted with the
Emperor as in Western countries,” and with the
return of the court in 1902 he was still a prisoner.

Every one who has written about audiences
with the Empress Dowager tells how “ the Em-
peror was seated near, though a little below her,”
but they never tell why. The reason is not far
to seek. The world must not know that he was
a prisoner in the palace. They must see him
near the throne, but they may not speak to him.
The addresses of the ministers were passed to her
by her kneeling statesmen, and it was they who
replied. No notice was taken of the Emperor
though he seemed to be in excellent health. The
Empress Dowager however still relieved him of
the burdens of the government, and continued to
“teach him how to govern.”

“ I have seen the Emperor many times,” Mrs.
Headland tells me, “and have spent many hours
in his presence, and every time we were in the
palace the Emperor accompanied the Empress

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Court Life in China

Dowager — not by her side but a few steps be-
hind her. When she sat, he always remained
standing a few paces in the rear, and never pre-
sumed to sit unless asked by her to do so. He
was a lonely person, with his delicate, well-bred
features and his simple dark robes, and in the
midst of these fawning eunuchs, brilliant court
ladies, and bejewelled Empress Dowager he was
an inconspicuous figure. No minister of state
touched forehead to floor as he spoke in hushed
and trembling voice to him, no obsequious
eunuchs knelt when coming into his presence ;
but on the contrary I have again and again seen
him crowded against the wall by these cringing
servants of Her Majesty.

“ One day while we were in the palace a
pompous eunuch had stepped before the Em-
peror quite obliterating him. I saw Kuang Hsii
put his hands on the large man’s shoulders, and
quietly turn him around, that he might see be-
fore whom he stood. There were no signs of
anger on his face, but rather a gentle, pathetic
smile as he looked up at the big servant. I ex-
pected to see him fall upon his knees before the
Emperor, but instead, he only moved a few
inches to the left, and remained still in front of
His Majesty. Never when in the palace have I
seen a knee bend to the Emperor, except that of
the foreigner when greeting him or bidding him
farewell. This was the more noticeable as states-

Kuang Hsu — As a Prisoner 167

men and eunuchs alike fell upon their knees
every time they spoke to the Empress Dowager.

“ The first time I saw him his great, pathetic,
wistful eyes followed me for days. I could not
forget them, and 1 determined that if I ever had
opportunity I would say a few words to him let-
ting him know that the world was resting in
hope of his carrying out the great reforms he
had instituted. But he was so carefully guarded
and kept under such strict surveillance that I
never found an opportunity to speak to him.
Nor did he ever speak to the visitors, court
ladies, the Empress Dowager, or attendants dur-
ing all the hours we remained.

“ One of the ministers told me that one day
after an audience, when the Empress Dowager
and the Emperor had stepped down from the
dais, Her Majesty was engaged in conversation
with one of his colleagues, and as the Emperor
stood near by, he made some remark to him.
Immediately the Empress Dowager turned from
the one to whom she had been talking and
made answer for the Emperor.

“ On one occasion when there were but four
of us in the palace, and we were all comfortably
seated, the Emperor standing a few paces be-
hind the Empress Dowager, she began discuss-
ing the Boxer movement, lamenting the loss of
her long finger nails, and various good-luck
gourds of which she was fond. The Emperor,

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Court Life in China

probably becoming weary of a conversation in
which he had no part, quietly withdrew by a
side entrance to the theatre which was playing
at the time. For some moments the Empress
Dowager did not notice his absence, but the in-
stant she discovered he was gone, a look of
anxiety overspread her features, and she turned
to the head eunuch, Li Lien-ying, and in an
authoritative tone asked : ‘ Where is the Em-

peror ? ’ There was a scurry among the eunuchs,
and they were sent hither and thither to inquire.
After a few moments they returned, saying that
he was in the theatre. The look of anxiety
passed from her face as a cloud passes from be-
fore the sun — and several of the eunuchs re-
mained at the theatre.

“ I am told that at times the Empress
Dowager invites the Emperor to dine with her,
and on such occasions he is forced to kneel at
the table at which she is seated, eating only
what she gives him. It is an honour which he
does not covet, but which he dare not decline
for fear of giving offense.”

XI

Prince Chiin — The Regent

Prince Chun the Regent of China gave a remarkable
luncheon at the Winter Palace to-day to the foreign envoys
who gathered here to attend the funeral ceremonies of the
late Emperor Kuang Hsu. The repast was served in for-
eign style. Among the Chinese present were Prince Ching,
former president of the Board of Foreign Affairs and now
adviser to the Naval Department ; Prince Tsai Chen, a son
of Prince Ching, who was at one time president of the
Board of Commerce ; Prince Su, chief of the Naval De-
partment ; and Liaing Tung-yen, president of the Board of
Foreign Affairs. After the entertainment the envoys ex-
pressed themselves as unusually impressed with the person-
ality of the Regent.

— Daily Press.

XI

PRINCE CHON—THE REGENT

t ■ ^HE selection of Prince Chiin as Regent
II for the Chinese empire during the minor-
ity of his son, Pu I, the new Emperor,
would seem to be the wisest choice that could be
made at the present time. In the first place, he
is the younger brother of Kuang Hsii, the late
Emperor, and was in sympathy with all the re-
forms the latter undertook to introduce in 1898.
If Kuang Hsii had chosen his successor, having
no son of his own, there is no reason why he
should not have selected Pu I to occupy the
throne, with Prince Chun as Regent, for there is
no other prince in whom he could have reposed
greater confidence of having all his reform meas-
ures carried to a successful issue ; and a brother
with whom he had always lived in sympathy
would be more likely to continue his policy than
any one else.

But, in the second place, as we may suppose.
Prince Chiin was selected by the Empress Dow-
ager, whatever the edicts issued, and will thus
have the confidence of the party of which she has
been the leader. It is quite wrong to suppose

171

172

Court Life in China

that this is the conservative party, or even a con-
servative party. China has both reform and con-
servative parties, but, in addition to these, she
has many wise men and great officials who are
neither radical reformers nor ultra-conservatives.
It was these men with whom the Empress Dow-
ager allied herself after the Boxer troubles of 1900.

These men were Li Hung-chang, Chang Chih-
tung, Yiian Shih-kai, Prince Ching, and others,
and it is they who, in ten years, with the Empress
Dowager, put into operation, in a statesmanlike
way, all the reforms that Kuang Hsii, with his
hot-headed young radical advisers, attempted to
force upon the country in as many weeks. There
is every reason to believe that Prince Chiin, the
present Regent, has the support of all the wiser
and better element of the Reform party, as well
as those great men who have been successful in
tiding China over the ten most difficult years of
her history, while the ultra-conservatives at this
late date are too few or too weak to deserve se-
rious consideration. We, therefore, think that
the choice of Pu I as Emperor, with Prince
Chiin as Regent, whether by the Empress Dow-
ager, the Emperor, or both, was, all things con-
sidered, the best selection that could have been
made.

Prince Chiin is the son of the Seventh Prince,
the nephew of the Emperor Hsien Feng and the
Empress Dowager, and grandson of the Emperor

MANCHU PRINCESSES AT A LUNCHEON AT THE AMERICAN LEGATION

Prince Chiin — The Regent 173

Tao Kuang. He has a fine face, clear eye, firm
mouth, with a tendency to reticence. He carries
himself very straight, and while below the aver-
age in height, is every inch a prince. He is dig-
nified, intelligent, and, though not loquacious,
never at a loss for a topic of conversation. He
is not inclined to Smalltalk, but when among men
of his own rank, he does not hesitate to indulge
in bits of humour.

This was rather amusingly illustrated at a din-
ner given by the late Major Conger, American
minister to China. Major and Mrs. Conger in-
troduced many innovations into the social life of
Peking, and none more important than the din-
ners and luncheons given to the princes and high
officials, and also to the princesses and ladies of
the court. In 1904, I was invited to dine with
Major Conger and help entertain Prince Chiin,
Prince Pu Lun, Prince Ching, Governor Hu, Na
T’ung, and a number of other princes and offi-
cials of high rank. I sat between Prince Chiin
and Governor Hu. Having met them both on
several former occasions, I was not a stranger to
either of them, and as they were well acquainted
with each other, though one was a Manchu prince
and the other a Chinese official, conversation
was easy and natural.

We talked, of course, in Chinese only, of the
improvements and advantages that railroads
bring to a country, for Governor Hu, among

174 Court Life in China

other things, was the superintendent of the Im-
perial Railways of north China. This led us to
speak of the relative comforts of travel by land
and by sea, for Prince Chiin had gone half round
the world and back. We listened to the Amer-
ican minister toasting the young Emperor of
China, his princes, and his subjects ; and then to
Prince Ching toasting the young President of
the United States, his officials, and his people, in
a most dignified and eloquent manner. And
then as the buzz of conversation went round the
table again, and perhaps because of their having
spoken of the young Emperor and the young
President, I turned to Governor Hu, who had an
unusually long, white beard which reached al-
most to his waist as he sat at table, and said :

“ Your Excellency, what is your honourable
age ? ”

“ I was seventy years old my last birthday,” he
replied.

” And he is still as strong as either of us young
men,” said I, turning to Prince Chiin.

“ Oh, yes,” said the Prince ; “ he is good for
ten years yet, and by that time he can use his
beard as an apron.”

“ It is an ill wind that blows no one good,” says
the proverb, and this was never more forcibly il-
lustrated than in the case of the death of the
lamented Baron von Kettler. Had it not been
for this unfortunate occurrence. Prince Chiin

PRINCE CHUN AND HIS DELEGATION

Sent to apologize to the German Emperor for the murder of Baron von Kettler

175

Prince ChUn — The Regent

would not have been sent to Germany to convey
the apologies of the Chinese government to the
German Emperor, and he would thus never have
had the opportunity of a trip to Europe ; and the
world might once more have beheld a regent on
the dragon throne who had never seen anything
a hundred miles from his own capital.

Prince Chiin started on this journey with such
a retinue as only the Chinese government can
furnish. He had educated foreign physicians and
interpreters, and, like the great Viceroy Li Hung-
chang, he had a round fan with the Eastern hem-
isphere painted on one side and the Western on
the other, and the route he was to travel distinctly
outlined on both, with all the places he was to pass
through, or to stop at on the trip, plainly marked.
He was intelligent enough to observe everything
of importance in the ports through which he
passed, and it was interesting to hear him tell of
the things he had seen, and his characterization
of some of the people he had visited.

“ What did Your Highness think of the rela-
tive characteristics of the Germans and the
French, as you saw them ? ” I asked him at the
same dinner.

“ The people in Berlin,” said he, ” get up early
in the morning and go to their business, while
the people in Paris get up in the evening and go
to the theatre.”

This may have been a bit exaggerated, but it

176 Court Life in China

indicated that the Prince did not travel, as many
do on their first trip, with his mouth open and
his eyes closed.

After his return to Peking he purchased a
brougham, as did most of the other leading offi-
cials and princes at the close of the Boxer troubles,
and driving about in this carriage, he has been a
familiar figure from that time until the present.
As straws show the direction of the wind, these
incidents ought to indicate that Prince Chiin will
not be a conservative to the detriment of his
government, or to the hindrance of China’s prog-
ress.

It is a well-known fact that the Empress Dow-
ager, in addition to her other duties, took charge
of the arrangement of the marriages of all her
nieces and nephews. One of her favourite
Manchu officials, and indeed one of the greatest
Manchus of recent years, though very conserva-
tive, and hence little associated with foreigners,
was Jung Lu. As the affianced bride of Prince
Chiin had drowned herself in a well during the
Boxer troubles, the Empress Dowager engaged
him to the daughter of the lady who had
been Jung Lu’s first concubine, but who, as his
consort was dead, was raised to the position of
wife.

“ This Lady Jung,” says Mrs. Headland, “ is
some forty years of age, very pretty, talkative,
and vivacious, and she told me with a good deal

Prince Chiin — The Regent 177

of pride, on one occasion, of the engagement of
her son to the sixth daughter of Prince Ching.
And then with equal enthusiasm she told me how
her daughter had been married to Prince Chiin,
‘ which of course relates me with the two most
powerful families of the empire.’

“ I have met the Princess Chiin on several oc-
casions at the audiences in the palace, at lunch-
eons with Mrs. Conger, at a feast with the Im-
perial Princess, at a tea with the Princess Tsai
Chen, and at the palaces of many of the prin-
cesses. She is a very quiet little woman, and
looked almost infantile as she gazed at one with
her big, black eyes. She is very circumspect in
her movements, and with such a mother and
father as she had, I should think may be very
brilliant. Naturally she had to be specially dig-
nified and sedate at these public functions, as she
and the Imperial Princess were the only ones be-
longing to the old imperial household, the de-
scendants of Tao Kuang, who were intimately as-
sociated with the Empress Dowager’s court.
She is small, but pretty, and, as I have indicated,
quiet and reticent. She was fond of her father,
and naturally fond of the Empress Dowager, who
selected her as a wife for her favourite nephew.
Prince Chiin, to whom she promised the succes-
sion at the time of their marriage. After her
father’s death, and while she was in mourning,
she was invited into the palace by the Empress

lyS Court Life in China

Dowager, where she appeared wearing blue
shoes, the colour used in second mourning.

“ ‘ Why do you wear blue shoes? ’ asked Her
Majesty.

“ ‘ On account of the death of my father,’ re-
plied the Princess.

“ ‘ And do you mourn over your dead father
more than you rejoice over being in the presence
of your living ruler ? ’ the Empress Dowager in-
quired.

“It is unnecessary to add that the Princess
changed the blue shoes for red ones while she
remained in the palace, so careful has the Em-
press Dowager always been of the respect due to
her dignity and position.”

Having promised the regency to Prince Chiin,
we may infer that the Empress Dowager would
do all in her power to prepare him to occupy the
position with credit to himself, and in the hope
that he would continue the policy which she has
followed during the last ten years. Whenever,
therefore, opportunity offered for a prince to
represent the government at any public function
with which foreigners were connected, Prince
Chiin was asked or appointed to attend. I have
said that it was the murder of the German min-
ister, Baron von Kettler, that gave Prince Chiin
his opportunity to see the world. And just here
I might add that an account of the massacre of
Von Kettler, sent from Canton, was published in

179

Prince ChUn — The Regent

a New York paper three days before it occurred.
This indicates that his death had been premedi-
tated and ordered by some high authorities, —
perhaps Prince Tuan or Prince Chuang, Boxer
leaders, — because the Germans had taken the
port of Kiaochou, and had compelled the Chinese
government to promise to allow them to open all
the mines and build all the railroads in the prov-
ince of Shantung.

After the Boxer troubles were settled, the
Germans, at the expense of the Chinese govern-
ment, erected a large stone memorial arch on the
spot where Von Kettler fell. At its dedication,
members of the diplomatic corps of all the lega-
tions in Peking were present, including ladies
and children, together with a large number of
Chinese officials representing the city, the gov-
ernment, and the Foreign Office, and Prince Chiin
was selected to pour the sacrificial wine. He did
it with all the dignity of a prince, however much
he may or may not have enjoyed it. On this
occasion he used one of the ancient, three-legged,
sacrificial wine-cups, which he held in both hands,
while Na Tung, President of the Foreign Office,
poured the wine into the cup from a tankard of a
very beautiful and unique design. It is the only
occasion on which I have seen the Prince when
he did not seem to enjoy what he was doing. I
ought to add just here that I have heard the
Chinese refer to this arch as the monument

i8o Court Life in China

erected by the Chinese government in memory
of the man who murdered Baron von Kettler !

It is a well-known fact that the Boxers des-
troyed all buildings that had any indication of a
foreign style of architecture, whether they be-
longed to Chinese or foreigner, Christian or
non-Christian, legation, merchant, or missionary.
In the rebuilding of the Peking legations, mis-
sions, and educational institutions, there were
naturally a large number of dedicatory services.
Many of the Chinese officials attended them, but
I shall refer to only one or two at which I re-
member meeting Prince Chiin. I believe it was
the design of the Empress Dowager, as soon as
she had decided upon him as the Regent, to give
him as liberal an education in foreign affairs as
the facilities in Peking would allow.

For many years the Methodist mission had
tried to secure funds from America to erect a
hospital and medical school in connection with
the mission and the Peking University. This
they found to be impossible, and finally Dr. N. S.
Hopkins of Massachusetts, who was in charge of
that work, consulted with his brother and brother-
in-law, who subscribed the funds and built the
institution. This act of benevolence on the part
of Dr. Hopkins and his friends appealed to the
Chinese sense of generosity, and when the build-
ing was completed, a large number of Chinese
officials, together with Prince Chiin and Prince

Prince Chiin — The Regent l8l

Pu Lun, were present at its dedication. A num-
ber of addresses were made by such men as
Major Conger, the American minister, Bishop
Moore, Na Tung, Governor Hu, General Chiang, V
and others of the older representatives, in which
they expressed their appreciation of the gener-
osity which prompted a man like Dr. Hopkins
to give not only himself, but his money, for the
education of the Chinese youth and the healing
of their poor. And I might add that Dr. Hop-
kins is physician to many of the princes and offi-
cials in Peking at the present time.

During this reconstruction, a number of the
colleges of north China united to form a union
educational institution. One part of this scheme
was a union medical college, situated on the Ha-
ta-men great street not a hundred yards north of
the Von Kettler memorial arch. To the erection
of this building the wealthy officials of Peking
subscribed liberally, and the Empress Dowager
sent her check for ii,ooo taels, equal to $g,ooo
in American gold, and appointed Prince Chiin
to represent the Chinese government at its dedi-
cation. At this meeting Sir Robert Hart made
an address on behalf of the foreigners, and Na
Tung on behalf of the Chinese. Although
Prince Chiin took no public part in the exercises,
he privately expressed his gratification at seeing
the completion of such an up-to-date hospital
and medical school in the Chinese capital.

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Court Life in China

I have given these incidents in the life of Prince
Chiin to show that he has had facilities for know-
ing the world better than any other Chinese
monarch or regent that has ever sat upon the
dragon throne, and that he has grasped the oppor-
tunities as they came to him. He has been in-
timately associated with the diplomatic life of the
various legations, which is perhaps the most im-
portant knowledge he has acquired in dealing
with foreign affairs, as these ministers are the
channels through which he must come in contact
with foreign governments. He has been present
at the dedication of a number of missionary
educational institutions, and hence from personal
contact he will have some comprehension of the
animus and work of missions and the character
of the men engaged in that work. He may have
as a councillor, if he so desires, the Prince Pu
Lun, who has had a trip around the world, with
the best possible facilities for seeing Japan,
America, Great Britain, Germany, France, and
Italy, and who has been in even more intimate con-
tact with the diplomats and other foreigners than
has Prince Chiin himself. My wife and I have
dined with him and the Princess both at the Amer-
ican legation and at his own palace, and when we
left China, they came together in their brougham to
bid us good-bye, a thing which could not have
happened a few years ago, and an indication of how
wide open the doors in China are now standing.

PRINCE PU LUN, IMPERIAL DELEGATE TO
THE ST. LOUIS EXPOSITION

Prince Chiin — The Regent 183

On the whole, therefore, Prince Chiin begins
his regency with a brighter outlook for his
foreign relations than any other ruler China
has ever had. What shall we say of his Chinese
relations? Being the brother of Kuang Hsii,
and himself a progressive young man, he ought
to have the support of the Reform party, and be-
ing the choice of the Empress Dowager, he will
have the support of the great progressive offi-
cials who have had the conduct of affairs for the
last quarter of a century and more, and especially
for the past ten years, since the Emperor Kuang
Hsii was deposed.

XII

The Home of the Court— The For-
bidden City

The innermost enclosure is the Forbidden City and con-
tains the palace and its surrounding buildings. The wall
is less solid and high than the city wall, is covered with
bright yellow tiles, and surrounded by a deep, wide moat.
Two gates on the east and west afford access to the in-
terior of this habitation of the Emperor, as well as the
space and rooms appertaining, which furnish lodgment to
the guard defending the approach to the dragon’s throne.

— S. Wells Williams in ^^The Middle Kingdom."

XII

THE HOME OF THE COURT— THE FOR-
BIDDEN CITY

During the past ten years, since the de-
thronement of the late Emperor Kuang
Hsii, I have often been asked by Euro-
peans visiting Peking :

“ What would happen if the Emperor should
die?”

“ They would put a new Emperor on the
throne,” was my invariable answer. They
usually followed this with another question :

“ What would happen if the Empress Dowager
should die ? ”

“In that case the Emperor, of course, would
again resume the throne,” I always replied with-
out hesitation. But during those ten years, not
one of my friends ever thought to propound the
question, nor did I have the wit to ask myself :

“ What would happen if the Emperor and the
Empress Dowager should both suddenly snap
the frail cord of life at or about the same time ? ”
Had such a question come to me, I confess I
should not have known how to answer it. It is
a problem that probably never presented itself to
any one outside of that mysterious Forbidden
City, or the equally mysterious spectres that

187

i88

Court Life in China

come and go through its half-open gates in the
darkness of the early morning. There are three
parties to whom it may have come again and
again, and to whom we may perhaps be in-
debted both for the problem and the solution.

When the deaths of both of their Imperial
Majesties were announced at the same time, the
news also came that the Japanese suspected that
there had been foul play. With them, however,
it was only suspicion ; none of them, so far as I
know, ever undertook to analyze the matter or
unravel the mystery. There is no doubt a rea-
sonable explanation, but we must go for it to
the Forbidden City, the most mysterious royal
dwelling in the world, where white men have
never gone except by invitation from the throne,
save on one occasion.

In 1901, while the court was in hiding at
Hsianfu, the city to which they fled when the
allies entered Peking, the western half of the
Forbidden City was thrown open to the public,
the only condition being that said public have a
certificate which would serve as a pass to the
American boys in blue who guarded the Wu
men, or front gate. I was fortunate enough to
have that pass.

My first move was to get a Chinese photog-
rapher— the best I could find in the city — to go
with me and take pictures of everything I wanted
as well as anything else that suited his fancy

The Home of the Court 189

The city of Peking is regularly laid out. To-
wards the south is the Chinese city, fifteen miles
in circumference. To the north is a square, four
miles on each side, and containing sixteen square
miles. In the centre of this square, enclosed by
a beautifully crenelated wall thirty feet thick at
the bottom, twenty feet thick at the top and
twenty-five feet high, surrounded by a moat one
hundred feet wide, is the Forbidden City, occupy-
ing less than one-half a square mile. In this
city there dwells but one male human being, the
Emperor, who is called the “ solitary man.”

There is a gate in the centre of each of the four
sides, that on the south, the Wu men, being the
front gate, through which the Emperor alone is
allowed to pass. The back gate, guarded by
the Japanese during the occupation, is for the
Empress Dowager, the Empress and the women
of the court, while the side gates are for the
officials, merchants or others who may have
business in the palace.

Through the centre of this city, from south to
north, is a passageway about three hundred feet
wide, across which, at intervals of two hundred
yards, they have erected large buildings, such as
the imperial examination hall, the hall in which
the Emperor receives his bride, the imperial
library, the imperial kitchen, and others of a like
nature, all covered with yellow titles, and known
to tourists, who see them from the Tartar City

Court Life in China

190

wall, as the palace buildings. These, however,
are not the buildings in which the royal family
live. They are the places where for the past
five hundred years all those great diplomatic
measures — and dark deeds — of the Chinese em-
perors and their great officials have been trans-
acted between midnight and daylight.

If you will go with me at midnight to the
great gate which leads from the Tartar to the
Chinese city — the Chien men — you will hear the
wailing creak of its hinges as it swings open,
and in a few moments the air will be filled with
the rumbling of carts and the clatter of the feet
of the mules on the stone pavement, as they
take the officials into the audiences with their
ruler. If you will remain with me there till a
little before daylight you will see them, like
silent spectres, sitting tailor-fashion on the bot-
tom of their springless carts, returning to their
homes, but you will ask in vain for any informa-
tion as to the business they have transacted.
“ They love darkness rather than light,” not per-
haps “ because their deeds are evil,” but because
it has been the custom of the country from time
immemorial.

Immediately to the north of this row of im-
perial palace buildings, and just outside the
north gate, there is an artificial mound called
Coal Hill, made of the dirt which was removed
to make the Lotus Lakes. It is said that in this

The Home of the Court 191

hill there is buried coal enough to last the city
in time of siege. This, however, was not the
primary design of the hill. It has a more mys-
terious meaning. There have always been
spirits in the earth, in the air, in every tree and
well and stream. And in China it has ever
been found necessary to locate a house, a city or
even a cemetery in such surroundings as to pro-
tect them from the entrance of evil spirits.
“ Coal Hill,” therefore, was placed to the north
of these imperial palace buildings to protect
them from the evil spirits of the cold, bleak
north.

Just inside of that north gate there is a
beautiful garden, with rockeries and arbours,
flowering plants and limpid artificial streams
gurgling over equally artificial pebbles, though
withal making a beautiful sight and a cool shade
in the hot summer days. In the east side of this
garden there is a small imperial shrine having
four doors at the four points of the compass. In.
front of each of these doors there is a large
cypress-tree, some of them five hundred years
old, which were split up from the root some
seven or eight feet, and planted with the two
halves three feet apart, making a living arch
through which the worshipper must pass as he
enters the temple. To the north of the garden
and east of the back gate there is a most beauti-
ful Buddhist temple, in which only the members

192

Court Life in China

of the imperial family are allowed to worship, in
front of which there is also a living arch like
those described above, as may also be found be-
fore the imperial temples in the Summer Palace.
This is one of the most unique and mysterious
features of temple worship I have found any-
where in China, and no amount of questioning
ever brought me any explanation of its mean-
ing.

Now if you will go with me to the top of Coal
Hill I will point out to you the buildings in
which their Majesties have lived. There are six
parallel rows of buildings, facing the south, each
behind the other, in the northwest quarter of this
Forbidden City, protected from the evil spirits
of the north by the dagoba on Prospect Hill.

Perhaps you would like to go with me into
these homes of their Majesties — or, as a woman’s
home is always more interesting than the den of
a man, let me take you through the private
apartments of the greatest woman of her race —
the late Empress Dowager. She occupied three
of these rows of buildings. The first was her
drawing-room and library, the second her din-
ing-room and sleeping apartments, and the third
her kitchen.

One was strangely impressed by what he saw
here. There was no gorgeous display of Oriental
colouring, but there was beaut}^ of a peculiarly
penetrating quality — and yet a homelike beauty.

r

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f

EMPRESS DOWAGER’S DINING-ROOM

The Home of the Court 193

No description that can be written of it will ever
do it justice. Not until one can see and ap-
preciate the paintings of the old Chinese
masters of five hundred years ago hanging upon
the walls, the beautiful pieces of the best porce-
lain of the time of Kang Hsi and Chien Lung,
made especially for the palace, arranged in their
natural surroundings, on exquisitely carved
Chinese tables and brackets, the gorgeously em-
broided silk portieres over the doorways, and
the matchless tapestries which only the Chinese
could weave for their greatest rulers, can we ap-
preciate the beauty, the richness, and the refined
elegance of the private apartments of the great
Dowager.

I went into her sleeping apartments. Others
also entered there, sat upon her couch, and had
their friends photograph them. I could not
allow myself to do so. I stood silent, with head
uncovered as I gazed with wonder and admira-
tion at the bed, with its magnificently em-
broidered curtains hanging from the ceiling to
the floor, its yellow-satin mattress ten feet in
length and its great round, hard pillow, with the
delicate silk spreads turned back as though it
were prepared for Her Majesty’s return. On the
opposite side of the room there was a brick
kang bed, such as we find in the homes of all
the Chinese of the north, where her maids
slept, or sat like silent ghosts while the only

194

Court Life in China

woman that ever ruled over one-third of the
human race took her rest. The furnishings
were rich but simple. No plants, no intricate
carvings to catch the dust, nothing but the two
beds and a small table, with a few simple and
soothing wall decorations, and the monotonous
tick-tock of a great clock to lull her to sleep.

If Shakespeare could say with an English
monarch in his mind, “ Uneasy lies the head
that wears a crown,” we might repeat it with
added emphasis of Tze Hsi, For forty years she
had to rise at midnight, winter as well as summer,
and go into the dark, dreary, cold halls of the
palace, lighted much of the time with nothing
but tallow dips, and heated only with brass
braziers filled with charcoal, and there sit behind
a screen where she could see no one, and no one
could see her, and listen to the reports of those
who came to these dark audiences. Then she
must, in conjunction with them, compose edicts
which were sent out to the Peking Gazette, the
oldest and poorest newspaper in the world, to be
carved on blocks, and printed, and then sent by
courier to every official in the empire. Ruling
over a conquered race, she must always be
watching out for signs of discontent and re-
bellion ; being herself the daughter of a poor
man, and beginning as only the concubine of an
emperor, and he but a weak character, she must
be alert for dissatisfaction on the part of the

The Home of the Court 195

princes who might have some title to the throne.
She must watch the governors in the distant
provinces and the viceroys who are in charge of
great armies, that they do not direct them against
instead of in defense of the throne.

When her husband died while a fugitive two
hundred miles from her palace, she must see to
it that her three-year-old child was placed upon
the throne with her own hand at the helm, and
when he died she must also be ready with a suc-
cessor, who would give her another lease of
office. Even when he became of age and took
the throne she must watch over him like a guard-
ian, to prevent his bringing down upon their
own heads the structure which she had builded.
Nay, more, when it became necessary for her to
dethrone him and rule in his name, banishing
his friends and pacifying his enemies, keeping
him a prisoner in his palace, it required a cour-
age that was titanic to do so. But she never
flinched, though we may suppose that many of
her poorest subjects, who could sleep from dark
till daylight with nothing but a brick for a pillow,
might have rested more peacefully than she.

She had a myriad of other duties to perform.
She was the mother-in-law of that imperial
household, with the Emperor, the Empress, sixty
concubines, two thousand eunuchs, and any
number of court ladies and maid-servants.
Their expenses were enormous and she must

Court Life in China

196

keep her eye on every detail. The food they
ate was similar to that used by all the Chinese
people. I happen to know this, because one of
her eunuchs who visited me frequently to ask
my assistance in a matter which he had under-
taken for the Emperor, often brought me various
kinds of meat, or other delicacies of a like nature,
from the imperial kitchens.

I want you to visit thi'ee of the imperial temples
in these beautiful palace grounds. The first is a
tall, three-story building at the head of that mag-
nificent Lotus Lake. In it there stands a Buddhist
deity with one thousand heads and one thousand
arm.s and hands. Standing upon the ground
floor its head reaches almost to the roof. Its
body, face and arms are as white as snow.
There is nothing else in the building — nothing
but this mild-faced Buddhist divinity for that
brilliant, black-eyed ruler of China’s millions to
worship.

Standing near by is another building of far
greater beauty. It is faced all over with en-
caustic tiles, each made at the kiln a thousand
miles away, for the particular place it was to
occupy. Each one fits without a flaw, a sug-
gestion to American architects on Chinese
architecture.

The second of these temples stands to the west
of the Coal Hill, immediately to the north of the
homes of their Majesties. One day while pass-

The Home of the Court 197

ing through the forbidden grounds I came upon
this temple from the rear. In the dome of one
of the buildings is a circular space some ten feet
in diameter, carved and gilded in the form of two
magnificent dragons after the fabled pearl. It
is to this place the Emperor goes in time of
drought to confess his sins, for he confesses to
the gods that the drought is all his doing, and
to pray for forgiveness, and for rain to enrich
the thirsty land. The towers on the corners of
the wall of the Forbidden City are the same style
of architecture as the small pavilion in the front
court of this temple.

Now as the buds of spring are bursting and
the eaves on the mulberry-trees are beginning
to develop, will you go with the Empress
Dowager or the Empress into a temple on
Prospect Hill, between the Coal Hill and the
Lotus Lake, where she offers sacrifices to the god
of the silkworm and prays for a prosperous year
on the work of that little insect ? Above it stands
one of the most hideous bronze deities I have
ever seen — male and naked — in a beautiful little
shrine, every tile of which is made in the form of
a Buddha’s head. During the occupation tourists
were allowed to visit this place freely, and their
desire for curios overcoming their discretion, they
knocked the heads off these tiles until, when the
place was closed, there was not a single tile which
had not been defaced.

198

Court Life in China

One other building in the Forbidden City is
worthy of our attention. It is the art gallery.
It is not generally known that China is the
parent of all Oriental art. We know something
of the art of Japan but little about that of China.
And yet the best Japanese artists have never
hoped for anything better than to equal their
Chinese teacher. In this art gallery there are
stored away the finest specimens of the old
masters for ten centuries or more, together with
portraits of all the noted emperors. Among
these portraits we may now find two of the Em-
press Dowager, one painted by Miss Carl, and
another by Mr. Vos, a well-known American
portrait painter.

XIII

The Ladies of the Court

I love to talk with my people of their Majesties, the
princesses, and the Chinese ladies, as I have seen and
known them. Your friendship I will always remember.
Her Majesty, your imperial sister, found a warm place in
my heart and is treasured there. Please extend to the
Imperial Princess my cordial greetings and to the other
princesses my best of good wishes.

— Mrs. E. H. Conger, in a letter to the Princess Shun.

XIII

THE LADIES OF THE COURT

The leading figure of the court is Yeho-
nala, wife of the late Emperor Kuang
Hsii. She has always been called the
Young Empress, but is now the Empress Dowa-
ger. After the great Dowager was made the
concubine of Hsien Feng, she succeeded in ar-
ranging a marriage, as we have seen, between
her younger sister and the younger brother of
her husband, the Seventh Prince, as he was called,
father of Kuang Hsii and the present regent.

The world knows how, in order to keep the
succession in her own family, she took the son of
this younger sister, when her own son the Em-
peror Tung Chih died, and made him the Em-
peror Kuang Hsii when he was but little more
than three years of age. When the time came
for him to wed, she arranged that he should
marry his cousin, Yehonala, the daughter of her
favourite brother, Duke Kuei. This Kuang Hsii
was not inclined to do, as his affections seem to
have been centred on another. The great Dow-
ager, however, insisted upon it, and he finally
made her Empress, and to satisfy, — or shall we
say appease him ? — she allowed him to take

201

202

Court Life in China

as his first concubine the lady he wanted as his
wife ; and it was currently reported in court cir-
cles that when Yehonala came into his presence
he not infrequently kicked off his shoe at her, a
bit of conduct that is quite in keeping with the
temper usually attributed to Kuang Hsii during
those early years. This may perhaps explain
why she stood by the great Dowager through
all the troublous times of 1898 and 1900, in spite
of the fact that her imperial aunt had taken her
husband’s throne.

Mrs. Headland tells me that “Yehonala is not
at all beautiful, though she has a sad, gentle face.
She is rather stooped, extremely thin, her face
long and sallow, and her teeth very much de-
cayed. Gentle in disposition, she is without self-
assertion, and if at any of the audiences we were
to greet her she would return the greeting, but
would never venture a remark. At the audiences
given to the ladies she was always present, but
never in the immediate vicinity of either the
Empress Dowager or the Emperor. She would
sometimes come inside the great hall where they
were, but she always stood in some inconspicuous
place in the rear, with her waiting women about
her, and as soon as she could do so without at-
tracting attention, she would withdraw into the
court or to some other room. In the summer-
time we sometimes saw her with her servants
wandering aimlessly about the court. She had

The Ladies of the Court 203

the appearance of a gentle, quiet, kindly person
who was always afraid of intruding and had no
place or part in anything. And now she is the
Empress Dowager 1 It seems a travesty on the
English language to call this kindly, gentle soul
by the same title that we have been accustomed
to use in speaking of the woman who has just
passed away.”

My wife tells me that, — “ A number of years
ago I was called to see Mrs. Chang Hsii who was
suffering from a nervous breakdown due to worry
and sleeplessness. On inquiry I discovered that
her two daughters had been taken into the pal-
ace as concubines of the Emperor Kuang Hsu.
Her friends feared a mental breakdown, and
begged me to do all I could for her. She took
me by the hand, pulled me down on the brick
bed beside her, and told me in a pathetic way
how both of her daughters had been taken from
her in a single day.

“ ‘ But they have been taken into the palace,’ I
urged, to try to comfort her, ‘ and I have heard
that the Emperor is very fond of your eldest
daughter, and wanted to make her his empress.’

“ ‘ Quite right,’ she replied, ‘ but what consola-
tion is there in that ? They are only concubines,
and once in the palace they are dead to me. No
matter what they suffer, I can never see them or
offer them a word of comfort. I am afraid of the
court intrigues, and they are only children and

204

Court Life in China

cannot understand the duplicity of court life — I
fear for them, I fear for them,’ and she swayed
back and forth on her brick bed,

“ Time, however, the great healer with a little
medicine and sympathy to quiet her nerves^
brought about a speedy recovery, though in the
end her fears proved all too true.”

In 1897 the brother of this first concubine met
Kang Yii-wei in the south, and became one of
his disciples. Upon his return to Peking, know-
ing of the Emperor’s desire for reform, and his
affection for his sister, he found means of com-
municating with her about the young reformer.
At the time of the coup d' etat, and the impris-
onment of the Emperor, this first concubine was
degraded and imprisoned on the ground of hav-
ing been the means of introducing Kang Yu-wei
to the notice of the Emperor, and thus interfering
in state affairs. She continued in solitary con-
finement from that time until the flight of the
court in 1900 when in their haste to get away
from the allies she was overlooked and left in the
palace. When she discovered that she was alone
with the eunuchs, fearing that she might become
a victim to the foreign soldiers, she took her life
by jumping into a well. On the return of the
court in 1902, the Empress Dowager bestowed
upon her posthumous honours, in recognition of
her conduct in thus taking her life and protecting
her virtue.

The Ladies of the Court

205

Some conception of the haste and disorder with
which the court left the capital on that memo-
rable August morning may be gleaned from the
fact that her sister was also overlooked and with
a eunuch fled on foot in the wake of the depart-
ing court. She was overtaken by Prince Chuang
who was returning in his chair from the palace,
where, with Prince Ching, he had been to inform
their Majesties that the allies were in possession
of the city. The eunuch, recognizing him,
called his attention to the fleeing concubine, who,
when he had alighted and greeted her, begged
him to find her a cart that she might follow the
court. Presently a dilapidated vehicle came by
in which sat an old man. The Prince ordered him
to give the cart to the concubine and sent her to
his palace where a proper conveyance was secured,
and she overtook the court at the Nankow pass.

At the audiences, this concubine was always
in company with the Empress Yehonala, stand-
ing at her left. She, however, lacked both the
beauty and intelligence of her sister.

The ladies of the court, who were constantly
associated with the Empress Dowager as her
ladies in waiting, are first, the Imperial Princess,
the daughter of the late Prince Kung, the sixth
brother of the Empress Dowager’s husband. Out
of friendship for her father, the Empress Dow-
agers adopted her as their daughter, giving her
all the rights, privileges and titles of the daughter

2o6

Court Life in China

of an empress. She is the only one in the em-
pire who is entitled to ride in a yellow chair such
as is used by the Empress Dowager, the Em-
peror or Empress. The highest of the princes —
even Prince Ching himself — has to descend from
his chair if he meet her. Yet when this lady is
in the palace, no matter how she may be suffer-
ing, she dare not sit down in the presence of Her
Majesty.

“ One day when we were in the palace,” says
Mrs. Headland, “ the Imperial Princess was suffer-
ing from such a severe attack of lumbago, that
she could scarcely stand. I suggested to her that
she retire to the rear of the room, behind some of
the pillars and rest a while.

“ ‘ I dare not do that,’ she replied ; ‘ we have no
such a custom in China.’ ”

She is austere in manner, plain in appearance,
dignified in bearing, about sixty-five years of age,
and is noted for her accomplishment in making
the most graceful courtesy of any lady in the court.

During the Boxer troubles and the occupation,
her palace was plundered and very much injured,
and she escaped in her stocking feet through a
side door. At the first luncheon given at her
palace thereafter, she apologized for its desolate
appearance, saying that it had been looted by the
Boxers, though we knew it had been looted by
the allies. At later luncheons, however, she had
procured such ornaments as restored in some

The Ladies of the Court

207

measure its original beauty and grandeur, though
none of these dismantled palaces will regain their
former splendour for many years to come.

Next to the Imperial Princess are the two sis-
ters of Yehonala, one of whom is married to Duke
Tse, who was head of the commission that made
the tour of the world to inquire as to the best
form of government to be adopted by China in
her efforts at renovation and reform. It is not
too much to suppose that it was because the
Duke was married to the Empress Dowager’s
niece that he was made the head of this commis-
sion, which after its return advised the adoption
of a constitution. The other sister is the wife of
Prince Shun, and is the opposite of the Empress.
She is stout, but beautiful. She has always been
the favourite niece of the Empress Dowager, ap-
peared at all the functions, and though very
sedate when foreign ladies were present at an
audience, I was told by the Chinese that when
the imperial family were alone together she was
the life of the company. She would even stand
behind the Empress Dowager’s chair “ making
such grimaces,” the Chinese expressed it, as to
make it almost impossible for the others to retain
their equilibrium. As she was the youngest of
the three sisters, and because of her happy dispo-
sition, the Chinese nicknamed her hsiao ktmiang^
“ the little girl.” These three sisters are all child-
less.

2o8

Court Life in China

The Princess Shun and Princess Tsai Chen,
only daughter-in-law of Prince Ching, herself the
daughter of a viceroy, were very congenial, and
the most intimate friends of all those in court
circles. The latter is beautiful, brilliant, quick,
tactful, and graceful. Of all the ladies of the
court she is the most witty and, with Princess
Shun, the most interesting. These two more
than any others made the court ladies easy to en-
tertain at all public functions, for they were full
of enthusiasm and tried to help things along.
They seemed to feel that they were personally
responsible for the success of the audience or the
luncheon as a social undertaking.

Lady Yiian is one of two of these court ladies
who dwelt with the Empress Dowager in the
palace, the other being Prince Ching’s fourth
daughter. She is a niece by marriage of the
Empress Dowager, though she really was never
married. The nephew of the Empress Dowager,
to whom she was engaged, though she had
never seen him, died before they were married.
After his death, but before his funeral, she
dressed herself as a widow, and in a chair
covered with white sackcloth went to his
home, where she performed the ceremonies
-j proper for a widow, which entitled her to take
; her position as his wife. Such an act is regarded
as very meritorious in the eyes of the Chinese,
and no women are more highly honoured than

A MANCHU PRINCESS

The Ladies of the Court 209

those who have given themselves in this way to
a life of chastity.

The second of these ladies who remained in
the palace with the Empress Dowager is the
fourth daughter of Prince Ching. Married to
the son of a viceroy, their wedded life lasted only
a few months. She was taken into the palace,
and being a widow, she neither wears bright
colours nor uses cosmetics. She is a fine scholar,
very devout, and spends much of her time in
studying the Buddhist classics. She is considered
the most beautiful of the court ladies.

The Empress Dowager took charge of most
of the domestic matters of all her relatives, taking
into the palace and associating with her as court
ladies some who were widowed in their youth,
and keeping constantly with her only those whom
she has elevated to positions of rank, or members
of her own family. Nor was she too busy with
state affairs to stop and settle domestic quarrels. *

Among the court ladies there was one who
was married to a prince of the second order.
Her husband is still living, but as they were not
congenial in their wedded life, the Empress
Dowager made herself a kind of foster-mother to
the Princess and banished her husband to Mon-
golia, an incident which reveals to us another
phase of the great Dowager’s character — that of
dealing with fractious husbands.

j

i

V

f-

PRINCE SU AND HIS CAMEL CART

XIV

The Princesses — Their Schools

The position accorded to woman in Chinese society is
strictly a domestic one, and, as is the case in other Eastern
countries, she is denied the liberty which threatens to at-
tain such amazing proportions in the West. There is no
reason to suppose that woman in China is treated worse
than elsewhere ; but people can of course paint her con-
dition just as fancy seizes them. They are rarely ad-
mitted into the domestic surroundings of Chinese homes,
therefore there is nothing to curb the imagination. The
truth is that just as much may be said on one side as on
the other. Domestic happiness is in China — as every-
where else the world over — a lottery. The parents in-
variably select partners in marriage for their sons and
daughters, and sometimes make as great blunders as the
young people would if left to themselves.

— Harold E. Gorst in China."

XIV

THE PRINCESSES— THEIR SCHOOLS ^

ONE day while making a professional call
on the Princess Su our conversation
turned to female education in China. I
was deeply interested in the subject, and was
aware that the Prince had established a school
for the education of his daughters and the women
of his palace, and was naturally pleased when
the Princess asked ;

“ Would you care to visit our school when it
is in session?”

“ Nothing would please me more,” I answered.
“ When may I do so ? ”

” Could you come to-morrow morning ? ” she
inquired.

“With pleasure ; at what time ? ”

“ I will send my cart for you.”

The following morning the Prince’s cart ap-
peared. It was lined with fur, upholstered in
satin, furnished with cushions, and encircled by
a red band which indicated the rank of its owner.
A venerable eunuch, the head of the palace serv-
ants, preceded it as an outrider, and assisted me
in mounting and dismounting, while the driver

* Taken from Mrs. Headland’s note-book.

213

214 Court Life in China

in red-tasselled hat walked decorously by the
side.

The school occupies a large court in the palace
grounds. Another evidence of Western influ-
ence in the same court is a large two-story house
of foreign architecture where the Prince receives
his guests. Prince Su was the first to have this
foreign reception hall, but he has been followed
in this respect by other officials and princes as
well as by the Empress Dowager.

“ This is not unlike our foreign compounds,”
I remarked to the Princess as we entered the
court.

“Yes,” she replied, “the Prince does not care
to have the court paved, but prefers to have it
sodded and filled with flowers and shrubs.”

The school building was evidently designed
for that purpose, being light and airy with the
whole southern exposure made into windows,
and covered with a thin white paper which gives
a soft, restful light and shuts out the glare of the
sun. The floor is covered with a heavy rope
matting while the walls are hung with botanical,
zoological and other charts. Besides the usual
furniture for a well-equipped schoolroom, it was
heated with a foreign stove, had glass cases for
their embroidery and drawing materials, and a
good American organ to direct them in singing,
dancing and calisthenics.

I arrived at recess. The Princess took me into

The Princesses — Their Schools 215

the teacher’s den, which was cut off from the
main room by a beautifully carved screen.
Here I was introduced to the Japanese lady
teacher and served with tea. She spoke no
English and but little Chinese, and the em-
barrassment of our effort to converse was only
relieved by the ringing of the bell for school.
The pupils, consisting of the secondary wives
and daughters of the Prince, his son’s wife, and
the wives and daughters of his dead brother who
make their home with him, entered in an orderly
way and took their seats. When the teacher
came into the room the ladies all arose and re-
mained standing until she took her place before
her desk and made a low bow to which they all
responded in unison. This is the custom in all
of the schools I have visited. Even where the
superintendent is Chinese, the pupils stand and
make a low Japanese bow at the beginning and
close of each recitation.

“ How long has the school been in session ? ”
I asked the Princess.

“ Three and a half months,” she replied.

“ And they have done all this embroidery and
painting in that time? ”

“They have, and in addition have pursued
their Western studies,” she explained.

In arithmetic the teacher placed the examples
on the board, the pupils worked them on their
slates, after which each was called upon for an

2i6

Court Life in China

explanation, which she gave in Japanese.
While this class was reciting the Prince came in
and asked if we might not have calisthenics,
evidently thinking that I would enjoy the drill
more than the mathematics. It was interesting
to see those Manchu ladies stand and go through
a thorough physical drill to the tune of a lively
march on a foreign organ. The Japanese are
masters in matters of physical drill, and in the
schools I have visited I have been pleased at the
quiet dignity, and the reserve force and sweet-
ness of their Japanese teachers. The precision
and unanimity with which orders were executed
both surprised and delighted me. Everything
about these schools was good except the singing,
which was excruciatingly poor. The Chinese
have naturally clear, sweet voices, with a tend-
ency to a minor tone, which, with proper train-
ing, admit of fair development. But the Jap-
anese teacher dragged and sang in a nasal tone,
in which the pupils followed her, evidently
thinking it was ; proper Western music. I was
rather amused to see the younger pupils go
through a dignified dance or march to the
familiar strains of “ Shall we gather at the
river,” which the eldest daughter played on the
organ.

“ The young ladies do not comb their hair in
the regular Manchu style,” I observed to the
Princess.

The Princesses — Their Schools 2). 7

“No,” she answered, “we do not think that
best. It is not very convenient, and so we have
them dress it in the small coil on top of the head
as you see. Neither do we allow them to wear
flowers in their hair, nor to paint or powder, or
wear shoes with centre elevations on the soles.
We try to give them the greatest possible con-
venience and comfort.”

They were proud of their bits of crocheting
and embroidery, each of which was marked
with the name of the person who did it and the
date when it was completed. Many of them
were made of pretty silk thread in a very intri-
cate pattern, though I admired their drawing
and painting still more.

“ Of what does their course of study consist ?”
I asked the Princess.

She went to the wall and took down a neat
gilt frame which contained their curriculum, and
which she asked her eldest daughter to copy for
me. They had five studies each day, six days of
the week, Sunday being a holiday. They be-
gan with arithmetic, followed it up with Japanese
language, needlework, music and calisthenics,
then took Chinese language, drawing, and
Chinese history with the writing of the ideo-
graphs of their own language, which was one of
the most difficult tasks they had to perform.
The dignified way in which the pupils con-
ducted themselves, the respect which they

2i8

Court Life in China

showed their teacher, and the way in which they
went about their work, delighted me. The
discipline it gave them, the self-respect it
engendered, and the power of acquisition that
came with it were worth more perhaps than the
knowledge they acquired, useful as that infor-
mation must have been.

The Princess Ka-la-chin, the fifth sister of
Prince Su, is married to the Mongolian Prince
Ka-la. It is a rule among the Manchus that no
prince can marry a princess of their own people,
but like the Emperor himself, must seek their
wives from among the untitled. These ladies
after their marriage are raised to the rank of
their husbands. It is the same with the
daughters of a prince. Their husbands must
come from among the people, but unlike the
princes they cannot raise them to their own
rank, and so their children have no place in the
imperial clan. Many of the princesses therefore
prefer to marry Mongolian princes, by which
they retain their rank as well as that of their
children.

Naturally a marriage of this kind brings
changes into the life of the princess. She has
been brought up in a palace in the capital, lives
on Chinese food, and is not inured to hardships.
When she marries a Mongol prince, she is taken
to the Mongolian plains, is not infrequently
compelled to live in a tent, and her food consists

The Princesses — Their Schools 21 g

largely of milk, butter, cheese and meat, most of
which are an abomination to the Chinese. They
especially loathe butter and cheese, and not in-
frequently speak of the foreigner smelling like
the Mongol — an odour which they say is the re-
sult of these two articles of diet.

Prince Su’s fifth sister was fortunate in being
married to a Mongol prince who was not a
nomad. He had established a sort of village
capital of his possessions, the chief feature of
which was his own palace. Here he lives dur-
ing the summers and part of . the winters ;
though once in three years he is compelled to
spend at least three months in his palace in
Peking when he comes to do homage to the
Emperor.

During one of these visits to Peking the
Princess sent for me to come to her palace. I
naturally supposed she was ill, and so took with
me my medical outfit, but her first greeting was :

“I am not ill, nor is any member of my family,
but I wanted to see you to have a talk with you
about foreign countries.”

She had prepared elaborate refreshments, and
while we sat eating, she directed the conversation
towards mines and mining, and then said :

“ My husband, the Prince, is very much inter-
ested in this subject, and believes that there are
rich stores of ore on his principality in Mon-
golia.”

220

Court Life in China

“ Indeed, that is very interesting,” I answered.

“ You know, of course, it is a rule,” she went
on to say, “ that no prince of the realm is allowed
to go more than a few miles from the capital
without special permission from the throne,”

“ No, I was not aware of that fact.”

She then went on to say that her husband was
anxious to attend the St. Louis Exposition, and
study this subject in America, but so long as
these hindrances remained it was impossible for
him to do so. She then said :

“ I am very much interested in the educational
system of your honourable country, and espe-
cially in your method of conducting girls’
schools,”

“ Would you not like to come and visit our
girls’ high school?” I asked.

“ I should be delighted,” she replied.

This she did, and before leaving the capital
she sent for a Japanese lady teacher whom she
took with her to her Mongolian home, where she
established a school for Mongolian girls.

In this school she had a regular system of
rules, which did not tally with the undisciplined
methods of the Mongolians, and it was amusing
to hear her tell how it was often necessary for the
Prince to go about in the morning and wake up
the girls in order to get them into school at nine
o’clock.

The next time she came to Peking she brought

The Princesses — Their Schools 221

with her seventeen of her brightest girls to see
the sights of the city and visit some of the
girls’ schools, both Christian and non-Christian.
Everything was new to them and it was inter-
esting to hear their remarks as I showed them
through our home and our high school. When
the Princess returned to Mongolia she took with
her a cultured young Chinese lady of unusual
literary attainments to teach the Chinese classics
in the school. This is the only school I have
known that was established by a Manchu princess,
for Mongolian girls, and taught by Chinese and
Japanese teachers. This young lady was the
daughter of the president of the Board of Rites,
head examiner for literary degrees for all China,
and was himself a chitang yua^t^ or graduate of
the highest standing. Before going, this Chinese
teacher had small bound feet, but she had not
been long on the plains before she unbound her
feet, dressed herself in suitable clothing, and
went with the Princess and the Japanese teacher
for a horseback ride across the plains in the early
morning, a thing which a Chinese lady, under
ordinary circumstances, is never known to do.
The school is still growing in size and usefulness.

Prince Su’s third sister is married to a com-
moner, but as is usual with these ladies who
marry beneath their own rank, she retains her
maiden title of Third Princess, by which she is
always addressed.

222

Court Life in China

“How did you obtain your education?” I
once asked her.

“ During my childhood,” she answered, “ my
mother was opposed to having her daughters
learn to read, but like most wealthy families,
she had old men come into the palace to read
stories or recite poetry for our entertainment. I
not infrequently followed the old men out, bought
the books from which they read, and then bribed
some of the eunuchs to teach me to read them.
In this way I obtained a fair knowledge of the
Chinese character.”

She is as deeply interested in the new educa-
tional movement among girls as is her sister.
When this desire for Western education began,
she organized a school, in which she has eighty
girls or more, taken from various grades of society,
whom she and some of her friends, in addition
to employing teachers and providing the school-
rooms, gave a good part of their time to teaching
the Chinese classics, while a Japanese lady taught
them calisthenics and the rudiments of Western
mathematics.

She is aggressively pro-foreign, and is ready
to do anything that will contribute to the success
of the new educational movement, and the free-
dom of the Chinese woman. On one occasion
when the Chinese in Peking undertook to
raise a fund for famine relief, they called a
large public meeting to which men and women

The Princesses — Their Schools 223

were alike invited, the first meeting of the kind
ever held in Peking. Such a gathering could
not have occurred before the Boxer rebellion.
The Third Princess, having promised to help
provide the programme, took a number of her
girls, and on a large rostrum, had them go
through their calisthenic exercises for the enter-
tainment of the audience. On another occasion
she took all her girls to a private box at a
Chinese circus, where men and women acrobats
and horseback riders performed in a ring not
unlike that of our own circus riders. In this
circus small-footed women rode horseback as
well as the women in our ov/n circus, and one
woman with bound feet lay down on her back,
balanced a cart-wheel, weighing at least a hun-
dred pounds, on her feet, whirling it rapidly all
the time, and then after it stopped she continued
to hold it while two women and a child climbed
on top. The Princess was determined to allow
her girls to have all the advantages the city
afforded.

At the school of this Third Princess I once at-
tended a unique memorial service. A lady of
Hang Chou, finding it impossible to secure
sufficient money by ordinary methods for the
support of a school that she had established, cut
a deep gash in her arm and then sat in the
temple court during the day of the fair, with a
board beside her on which was inscribed the ex-

224

Court Life in China

planation of her unusual conduct. This brought
her in some three hundred ounces of silver with
which she provided for her school the first year.
When it was exhausted and she could get no
more, she wrote letters to the officials of her
province, in which she asked for subscriptions
and urged the importance of female education,
to which she said she was willing to give
her life. To her appeal the officials paid no
heed, and she finally wrote other letters renewing
her request for help to establish the school, after
which she committed suicide. The letters were
sent, and later published in the local and general
newspapers. Memorial services were held in
various parts of the empire at all of vffiich
funds were gathered not only for her school
but for establishing other schools throughout the
provinces.

The school of the Third Princess at which
this service was held was profusely decorated.
Chinese flags floated over the gates and door-
ways. Beautifully written scrolls, telling the
reason for the service and lauding the virtues of
the lady, covered the walls of the schoolroom.
At the second entrance there was a table at
which sat a scribe who took our name and ad-
dress and gave us a copy of the “ order of ex-
ercises.” Here we were met by the Third
Princess, who conducted us into the main hall.
Opposite the doorway was hung a portrait of the

The Princesses — Their Schools 225

lady, wreathed in artificial flowers, and painted
by a Chinese artist. A table stood before it on
which was a plate of fragrant quinces, candles,
and burning incense, giving it the appearance
of a shrine. Pots of flowers were arranged about
the room, which was unusually clean and beauti-
ful. The Chinese guests bowed three times be-
fore the picture on entering the room, which I
thought a very pretty ceremony.

The girls of this school, to the number of about
sixty, appeared in blue uniform, courtesying to
the guests. Sixteen other girls’ schools of Peking
were represented either by teachers or pupils or
both. One of the boys’ schools came en masse,
dressed in military uniform, led by a band, and
a drillmaster with a sword dangling at his side.
Addresses were made by both ladies and gentle-
men, chief among whom were the Third Princess
and the editress of the V/o?nan's Daily News-
paper, the only woman’s daily at that time in the
world, who urged the importance of the estab-
lishment and endowment of schools for the edu-
cation of girls throughout the empire.

XV

The Chinese Ladies of Rank

Though your husband may be wealthy,

You should never be profuse ;

There should always be a limit
To the things you eat and use.

If your husband should be needy,

You should gladly share the same,

And be diligent and thrifty,

And no other people blame.

The Primer for Girls," Translated by I. T. H

XV

THE CHINESE LADIES OF RANK*

The Manchu lady’s ideal of beauty is
dignity, and to this both her deport-
ment and her costume contribute in a
well-nigh equal degree. Her hair, put up on
silver or jade jewelled hairpins, decorated with
many flowers, is very heavy, and easily tilted to
one side or the other if not carried with the
utmost sedateness. Her long garments, reach-
ing from her shoulders to the floor, give to her
tall figure an added height, and the central
elevation of from four to six inches to the soles
of her daintily embroidered slippers, compel her
to stand erect and walk slowly and majestically.
She laughs but little, seldom jests, but preserves
a serious air in whatever she does.

The Chinese lady, on the contrary, aspires to
be petite, winsome, affable and helpless. She
laughs much, enjoys a joke, and is always good-
natured and chatty.

One of their poets thus describes a noted beauty ;

1 Taken from Mrs. Headland’s note-book,

229

230 Court Life in China

At one moment with tears her bright eyes would be
swimming,

The next with mischief and fun they’d be brimming.

Thousands of sonnets were written in praise of them,

Li Po wrote a song for each separate phase of them.

“ Bashfully, swimmingly, pleadingly, scoffingly,
Temptingly, languidly, lovingly, laughingly,
Witchingly, roguishly, playfully, naughtily.
Willfully, waywardly, meltingly, haughtily,
Gleamed the eyes of Yang Kuei Fei.

“ Her ruby lips and peach-bloom cheeks,

Would match the rose in hue.

If one were kissed the other speaks,

With blushes, kiss me too.”

She combs her hair in a neat coil on the back
of her head, uses few flowers, but instead prefers
profuse decorations of pearls. Her upper gar-
ment extends but little below her knees, and her
lower garment is an accordion-plaited skirt, from
beneath which the pointed toes of her small
bound feet appear as she walks or sways on her
” golden lilies,” as if she were a flower blown, by
the wind, to which the Chinese love to compare
her. Her waist is a “ willow waist ” in poetry,
and her “ golden lilies,” as her tiny feet are often
called, are not more than two or three inches
long — -so small that it not infrequently requires
the assistance of a servant or two to help her to
walk at all. And though she may not need them

The Chinese Ladies of Rank 231

she affects to be so helpless as to require their
aid.

Until very recently education was discouraged
rather than sought by the Manchu lady. Many
of the princesses could not read the simplest
book nor write a letter to a friend, but depended
upon educated eunuchs to perform these services
for them. The Chinese lady on the contrary can
usually read and write with ease, and the educa-
tion of some of them is equal to that of a Hanlin.

Socially the ladies of these two classes never
meet. Their husbands may be of equal rank
and well known to each other in official life, but
the ladies have no wish to meet each other. One
day while the granddaughter of one of the Chi-
nese Grand Secretaries was calling upon me, the
sisters of Prince Ching and Prince Su were an-
nounced. When they entered I introduced them.
The dignity of the two princesses when presented
led me to fear that we would have a cold time to-
gether. I explained who my Chinese lady friend
was, and they answered in a formal way {wai
t ou tou jen te, li tdu lie pujen te) “the gentle-
men of our respective households are well ac-
quainted, not so the ladies,” but the ice did not
melt. For a time I did my best to find a topic
of mutual interest, but it was like trying to mix
oil and water. I was about to give up in de-
spair when my little Chinese friend, observing the
dilemma in which I was placed, and the effort I

232

Court Life in China

was making to relieve the situation, threw herself
into the conversation with such vigour and vi-
vacity, and suggested topics of such interest to
the others as to charm these reserved princesses,
and it was not long until they were talking to-
gether in a most animated way.

One of the Manchu ladies expressed regret at
the falling of her hair and the fact that she was
getting bald. “ Why,” said my little Chinese
friend, “after a severe illness not long since, I
lost all my hair, but I received a prescription
from a friend which restored it all, and just look
at the result,” she continued turning her pretty
head with its great coils of shiny black hair. “ I
will be delighted to let you have it.” The
Manchu princesses finally rose to depart, and in
their leave-taking, they were as cordial to my lit-
tle Chinese friend, who had made herself so
agreeable, as they were to me, for which I shall
ever be grateful.

After they had gone I asked :

“Why is it that the Manchu and Chinese
ladies do not intermingle in a social way ? ”

“The cause dates back to the beginning of
the Manchu dynasty,” she responded. “When
the Chinese men adopted the Manchu style of
wearing the queue, it was stipulated that they
should not interfere with the style of the
woman’s dress, and that no Chinese should be
taken to the palace as concubines or slaves to

CHINESE LADIES OF RANKIN WINTER GARMENTS

Showing the pearl adornments of the hair

i

The Chinese Ladies of Rank 233

the Emperor. We have therefore always held
ourselves aloof from the Manchus. Our men
did this to protect us, and as a result no Chinese
lady has ever been received at court, except, of
course, the painting teacher of the Empress
Dowager, who, before she could enter the
palace, was compelled to unbind her feet, adopt
the Manchu style of dress and take a Manchu
name.”

“ Is not the Empress Dowager very much op-
posed to foot-binding ? Why has she not forbid-
den it?”

“ She has issued edicts recommending them to
give it up, but to forbid it is beyond her power.
That would be interfering with the Chinese
ladies’ dress.”

“ Do the Manchus consider themselves su-
perior to the Chinese ? ”

“It is a poor rule that will not work both
ways. Have you never noticed that in his
edicts the Emperor speaks of his Manchu slaves
and his Chinese subjects?”

Among my lady friends is one whose father
died when she was a child, and she was brought
up in the home of her grandfather who was him-
self a viceroy. She had always been accustomed
to every luxury that wealth could buy. Clothed
in the richest embroidered silks and satins, deco-
rated with the rarest pearls and precious stones,
she had serving women and slave girls to wait

234

Court Life in China

upon her, and humour her every whim. One
day when we were talking of the Boxer insur-
rection she told me the following story :

“ Some years ago,” she said, “ my steward
brought me a slave girl whom he had bought
from her father on the street. She was a bright,
intelligent and obedient little girl, and I soon
became very fond of her. She told me one day
that her grandmother was a Christian, and that
she had been baptized and attended a Christian
school. Her father, however, was an opium-
smoker, and had pawned everything he had,
and finally when her grandmother was absent
had taken her and sold her to get money to buy
opium. She asked me to send a messenger to
her grandmother and tell her that she had a
good home.

“ I was delighted to do so for I knew the old
woman would be distressed lest the child had
been sold to a life of shame, or had found a
cruel mistress. Unfortunately, however, my
messenger could find no trace of the grand-
mother, as the neighbours informed him that
she had left shortly after the disappearance of
the child.

“ As the years passed the child grew into
womanhood. She was very capable, kind and
thoughtful for others and I learned to depend
upon her in many ways. She was very devoted
to me, and sought to please me in every way

The Chinese Ladies of Rank 235

she could. She always spoke of herself as a
Christian and refused to worship our gods.
When the Boxer troubles began I took my
house-servants and went to my grandfather’s
home thinking that the Boxers would not dare
disturb the households of such great officials as
the viceroys. But I soon found that they re-
spected no one who had liberal tendencies.

“ One day there was a proclamation posted to
the effect that all Christians were to be turned
over to them, and that any one found concealing
a Christian would themselves be put to death.
My grandmother came to my apartments and
wanted me to send my slave girl to the Boxers.
We talked about it for some time but I stead-
fastly refused. When the Boxers had procured all
they could by that method they announced that
they were about to make a house-to-house
search, and any household harbouring Chris-
tians would be annihilated.”

“ But how would they know that your slave
was a Christian ? ” I inquired.

“ Have you not heard,” she asked, “ that the
Boxers claimed that after going through certain
incantations, they could see a cross upon the
forehead of any who had been baptized? ”

“ And did you believe they could ? ”

“ I did then but I do not now. Indeed we all
did. My grandmother came to me and posi-
tively forbade me to keep the slave in her home.

Court Life in China

236

After she had gone the girl came and knelt at
my feet and begged me to save her 1 How
could I send her out to death when she had
been so kind and faithful to me? I finally de-
cided upon a plan to save her. I determined to
flee with her to the home of an uncle who lived
in a town a hundred miles or more from Peking,
where I hoped the Boxers were less powerful
than they were at the capital.

“ This uncle was the lieutenant-governor of
the province and had always been very fond of
me, and I knew if I could reach him I should win
his sympathy and his aid. But how was this to
be done ? All travellers were suspected, searched
and examined. For two women to be travelling
alone, when the country was in such a state of
unrest, could not but bring upon themselves
suspicion, and should we be searched, the cross
upon the forehead would surely be found, and
we would be condemned to the cruel tortures in
which the Boxers were said to delight.

“ After much thought and planning the only
possible method seemed to be to flee as beggars.
You know women beggars are found upon the
roads at all times and they excite little suspicion.
Then in the hot summer it is not uncommon for
them to wrap their head and forehead in a piece
of cloth to protect them from the fierce rays of
the sun. In this way I hoped to conceal the
cross from observation in case we came into the

The Chinese Ladies of Rank 237

presence of the Boxers. We confided our plans
to a couple of the women servants whom we
could trust, and asked them to procure proper
outfits for us. They did so, and oh ! what dirty
old rags they were. The servants wept as they
took off and folded up my silk garments and clad
me in this beggar’s garb.”

“ But your skin is so soft and fair, not at all
like the skin of a woman exposed to the sun ; and
your black, shiny hair is not at all rusty and
dirty like the hair of a beggar woman. I should
think these facts would have caused your detec-
tion,” I urged.

” That was easily remedied. We stained our
faces, necks, hands and arms, and we took down
our hair and literally rolled it in dust which the
servants brought from the street. Oh ! but it
was nasty ! such an odour ! It was only the sa-
ving of the life of that faithful slave that could
have induced me to do it. I had to take off my
little slippers and wrap my feet in dirty rags such
as beggars wear. We could take but a little
copper cash with us. To be seen with silver
or gold would have at once brought suspicion
upon us, while bank-notes were useless in those
days.

“ In the early morning, before any one was
astir we were let out of a back gate. It was the
first time I had ever walked on the street. I had
always been accustomed to going in my closed

Court Life in China

238

cart with outriders and servants. I shrank from
staring eyes, and thought every glance was sus-
picious. My slave was more timid than I and so
I must take the initiative. I had been accustomed
to seeing street beggars from behind the screened
windows of my cart ever since I was a child and
so I knew how I ought to act, but at first it was
difficult indeed. Soon, however, we learned to
play our part, though it seems now like a hideous
dream. We kept on towards the great gate
through which we passed out of the city on to
the highway which led to our destination.

“ The first time we met a Boxer procession my
knees knocked together in my fear of detection
but they passed by without giving us a glance.
We met them often after this, and before we fin-
ished our journey I learned to doubt their claim
to detect Christians by the sign of the cross.

“We ate at the roadside booths, slept often in
a gateway or by the side of a wall under the
open sky, and after several days’ wandering, we
reached the yamen of my uncle. But we dare
not enter and reveal our identity, lest we impli-
cate them, for we found the Boxers strong every-
where, and even the officials feared their prowess.
We hung about the yamen begging in such a
way as not to arouse suspicion, until an old serv-
ant who had been in the family for many years,
and whom I knew well, came upon the street.
I followed him begging until we were out of ear-

The Chinese Ladies of Rank 239

shot of others, and then told him in a singsong,
whining tone, such as beggars use, who I was
and why I w^as there, and asked him to let my
uncle know, and said that if they would open the
small gate in the evening we would be near and
could enter unobserved.

“At first he could not believe it was I, for by
this time we indeed looked like veritable beggars,
but he was finally convinced and promised to tell
my uncle. After nightfall he opened the gate
and led us in by a back passage to my aunt’s
apartments where she and my uncle were wait-
ing for me. They both burst into tears as they
beheld my plight. Two old serving women, who
had been many years in the family, helped us to
change our clothes and gave us a bath and food.
My feet had suffered the most. They were
swollen and ulcerated and the dirty rags and
dust adhering to the sores had left them in a
wretched condition. It took many baths before
we were clean, and weeks before my feet were
healed.

“We remained with my uncle until the close
of the Boxer trouble, and until my grandfather’s
return from Hsian where he had gone with the
Empress Dowager and the court, and then I
came back to Peking.’’

“ Your 'grandmother must have felt ashamed
when she heard how hard it had gone with you,”
I remarked.

240

Court Life in China

“ We never mentioned the matter when talking
together. That was a time when every one’ was
for himself. Death stared us all in the face.”

“ Where is your slave girl now ? I should
like to see her,” I remarked.

“ After the troubles were over I married her to
a young man of my uncle’s household. I will
send for her and bring her to see you.”

She did so. I found she had forgotten much
of what she had learned of Christianity, but she
remembered that there was but one God and that
Jesus Christ was His Son to whom alone she
should pray. She also remembered that as a
small child she had been baptized, and that in
school she had been taught that “ we should
love one another ” ; this was about the extent of
her Gospel, but it had touched the heart of her
charming little mistress and had saved her life.

There were sometimes amusing things hap-
pened when these Chinese ladies called. My
husband among other things taught astronomy
in the university. He had a small telescope
with which he and the students often examined
the planets, and they were especiall}^ interested
in Jupiter and his moons. One evening, con-
trary to her custom, this same friend was calling
after dark, and when the students had finished
with Jupiter and his moons, my husband invited
us to view them, as they were especially clear
on that particular evening.

The Chinese Ladies of Rank 241

After she had looked at them for a while, and
as my husband was closing up the telescope, she
exclaimed ; “ That is the kind of an instrument

that some foreigners sent as a present to my
grandfather while he was viceroy, but it was
larger than this one.”

“And did he use it? ” asked my husband.

“ No, we did not know what it was for. Be-
sides my grandfather was too busy with the
affairs of the government to try to under-
stand it.”

“ And where is it now ? ” asked Mr. Headland,
thinking that the viceroy might be willing to
donate it to the college.

“ I do not know,” she answered. “ The serv-
ants thought it was a pump and tried to pump
water with it, but it would not work. It is
probably among the junk in some of the back
rooms.”

“ I wonder if we could not find it and fix it
up,” my husband persisted.

“ I am afraid not,” she answered. “ The last
I saw of it, the servants had taken the glass out
of the small end and were using it to look at in-
sects on the bed.”

One day when one of my friends came to call
I said to her ; “ It is a long time since I have

seen you. Have you been out of the city ? ”

“ Yes, I have been spending some months wdth
my father-in-law, the viceroy of the Canton prov-

242

Court Life in China

inces. His wife has died, and I have returned to
Peking to get him a concubine.”

” How old is he ? ” I inquired.

“ Seventy-two years,” she replied.

“And how will you undertake to secure a
concubine for such an old man ? ”

“ I shall probably buy one.”

A few weeks afterwards she called again hav-
ing with her a good-looking young woman of
about seventeen, her hair beautifully combed,
her face powdered and painted, and clothed in
rich silk and satin garments, whom she intro-
duced as the young lady procured for her father-
in-law. She explained that she had bought her
from a poor country family for three hundred and
fifty ounces of silver.

“ Don’t you think it is cruel for parents to sell
their daughters in this way ? ” I asked.

” Perhaps,” she answered. “ But with the
money they received for her, they can buy land
enough to furnish them a good support all their
life. She will always have rich food, fine cloth-
ing and an easy time, with nothing to do but en-
joy herself, while if she had remained at home
she must have married some poor man who
might or might not have treated her well, and for
whom she would have to work like a slave.
Now she is nominally a slave with nothing to do
and with every comfort, in addition to what she
has done for her family.”

The Chinese Ladies of Rank 243

While we were having tea she asked to see
Mr. Headland, as many of the older of my friends
did. I invited him in, and as he entered the
dining-room the young woman stepped out into
the hall.

My friend greeted my husband, and with a
mysterious nod of her head in the direction of the
young woman she said : “ Chiu shih na ke^ —

that’s it.”

'I.

i

-i

f

XVI

The Social Life of the Chinese Woman

The manners and customs of the Chinese, and their
social characteristics, have employed many pens and many
tongues, and will continue to furnish an inexhaustible
field for students of sociology, of religion, of philosophy,
of civilization, for centuries to come. Such studies, how-
ever, scarcely touch the province of the practical, at least
as yet, for one principal reason — that the subject is so vast,
the data are so infinite, as to overwhelm the student rather
than assist him in sound generalizations.

— A. R. Colquhoun in “ China in Transformation.”

XVI

THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE CHINESE WOMAN

The home life of a. people is too sacred to
be touched except by the hand of friend-
ship. Our doors are closed to strangers,
locked to enemies, and opened only to those of
our own race who are in harmony and sympathy
with us. What then shall we say when people of
an alien race come seeking admission ? They
must bring some social distinction, — letters of in-
troduction, or an ability to help us in ways in
which we cannot help ourselves.

In the case of a people as exclusive as the Chi-
nese this is especially true, so that with the ex-
ception of one or two women physicians and the
wife of one of our diplomats no one has ever been
admitted in a social as well as professional way
to the w^omen’s apartments of the homes of the
better class of the Chinese people.

A Chinese home is different from our own. It
is composed of many one-story buildings, around
open courts, one behind the other, and sometimes
covers several acres of ground. Then it is di-
vided into men’s and women’s apartments, the
men receiving their friends in theirs and the
women likewise receiving their friends by a side

247

Court Life in China

248

gate in their own apartments, which are at the
rear of the dwelling. A wealthy man usually, in
addition to his wife, has one or more concubines,
and each of these ladies has an apartment of her
own for herself and her children, — though all the
children of all the concubines reckon as belong-
ing to the first wife.

I have heard Sir Robert Hart tell an amusing
incident which occurred in Peking. He said
that the Chinese minister appointed to the court
of Saint James came to call on him before setting
out upon his journey. After conversing for some
time he said :

“ I should be glad to see Lady Hart. I be-
lieve it is customary in calling on a foreign gen-
tleman to see his lady, is it not ? ”

“It is,” said Sir Robert, “and I should be de-
lighted to have you see her, but Lady Hart is in
England with our children, and has not been
here for twenty years.”

“ Ah, indeed, then perhaps I might see your
second wife.”

“ That you might, if I had one. But the cus-
toms of our country do not allow us to have a
second wife. Indeed they would imprison us if
we were to have two wives.”

“ How singular,” said the official with a nod
of his head. “You do not appreciate the advan-
tages of this custom of ours.”

That there are advantages in this custom from

Social Life of the Chinese Woman 249

the Chinese point of view, I have no doubt. But
from certain things I have heard I fear there
are disadvantages as well. One day the head
eunuch from the palace of one of the leading
princes in Peking came to ask my wife, who was
their physician, to go to see some of the women
or children who were ill. It was drawing near
to the New Year festival and, of course, they had
their own absorbing topics of conversation in the
servants’ courts. I said to him ;

“The Prince has a good many children, has
he not ? ”

“ Twenty-three,” he answered.

“ How many concubines has he ? ” I inquired.

“Three,” he replied, “but he expects to take
on two more after the holidays.”

“ Doesn’t it cause trouble in a family for a
man to have so many women about ? I should
think they would be jealous of each other.”

“ Ah,” said he, with a wave of his hand and a
shake of his head, “ that is a topic that is diffi-
cult to discuss. Naturally if this woman sees
him taking to that woman, this one is going to
eat vinegar.”

They do “ eat vinegar,” but perhaps as little
of it as any people who live in the way in which
they live, for the Chinese have organized their
home life as nearly on a governmental basis
as any people in the world.

In addition to the wife and concubines, each

250

Court Life in China

son when he marries brings his wife home to a
parental court, and all these sisters-in-law, or
daughters-in-law add so much to the complica-
tions of living, for each must have her own ret-
inue of servants.

Young people in China are all engaged by
their parents without their knowledge or con-
sent. This was very unsatisfactory to the young
people of the old regime, and it is being modi-
fied in the new. One day one of my students in
discussing this matter said to me :

“ Our method of getting a wife is very much
better than either the old Chinese method or
your foreign method.”

“ How is that? ” I asked.

” Well,” said he, “ according to the old Chi-
nese custom a man could never see his wife un-
til she was brought to his house. But we can
see the girls in public meetings, we have sisters
in the girls’ school, they have brothers in the col-
lege, and when we go home during vacation we
can learn all about each other.”

“ But how do you consider it better than our
method?” I persisted.

“ Why, you see, when you have found the girl
you want, you have to go and get her yourself,
while we can send a middleman to do it for us.”

I still argued that by our method we could be-
come better acquainted with the young lady.

“Yes,” he said, “that is true; but doesn’t it

Social Life of the Chinese Woman 251

make you awfully mad if you ask a lady to
marry you and she refuses?” and it must be
confessed that this was a difficult question to
answer without compromising one’s self.

The rigour of the old regime was apparently
modified by giving the young lady a chance to
refuse. About ten days before the marriage, two
ladies are selected by the mother of the young
man to carry a peculiar ornament made of ebony
and jade, or jade alone, or red lacquer, to the
home of the prospective bride. This ornament
is called the ju yi, which means “ According to
my wishes.” If the lady receives it into her own
hands it signifies her willingness to become his
bride ; if she rejects it, the negotiations are at an
end, though I have never heard of a girl who re-
fused the ju yi}

Very erroneous ideas of the life and occupa-
tions of the Chinese ladies of the noble and
official classes are held by those not conversant
with their home life. The Chinese woman is
commonly regarded as little better than a se-
cluded slave, who whiles away the tedious hours
at an embroidery frame, where with her needle
she works those delicate and intricate pieces of
embroidery for which she is famous throughout
the world. In reality, a Chinese lady has little
time to give to such work. Her life is full of
the most exacting social duties. Few American

* The remainder of the chapter is from Mrs. Headland’s note-book.

252

Court Life in China

ladies in the whirl of society in Washington or
New York have more social functions to attend
or duties to perform. I have often been present
in the evening when the head eunuch brought to
the ruling lady of the home (and the head of the
home in China is the woman, not the man) an
ebony tablet on which was written in red ink the
list of social functions the ladies were to attend
the following day.

She would select from the list such as she and
her unmarried daughters could attend, — the
daughters always going with their mother and not
with their sisters-in-law, — then she would appor-
tion the other engagements to her daughters-in-
law, who would attend them in her stead.

The Chinese lady in Peking sleeps upon a brick
bed, one half of the room being built up a foot and
a half above the floor, with flues running through
it ; and in the winter a fire is built under the bed,
so that, instead of having one hot brick in her
bed, she has a hundred. She rises about eight.
She has a large number of women servants, a
few slave girls, and if she belongs to the family
of a prince, she has several eunuchs, these latter
to do the heavy work about the household.
Each servant has her own special duties, and
resents being asked to perform those of another.
When my lady awakes a servant brings her a
cup of hot tea and a cake made of wheat or rice
flour. After eating this a slave girl presents her

Social Life of the Chinese Woman 253

with a tiny pipe with a long stem from which she
takes a few whiffs. Two servants then appear
with a large polished brass basin of very hot
water, towels, soaps, preparations of honey to be
used on her face and hands while they are still
warm and moist from the bathing. After the
bath they remove the things and disappear, and
two other women take their places, with a tray
on which are combs, brushes, hair-pomades, and
the framework and accessories needed for
combing her hair. Then begins a long and
tedious operation that may continue for two hours.
Finally the hair is ready for the ornaments,
jewels and flowers which are brought by another
servant on a large tray. The mistress selects the
ones she wishes, placing them in her hair with
her own hands.

Some of these flowers are exquisite. The
Chinese are expert at making artificial flowers
which are true to nature in every detail. Often
above the flower a beautiful butterfly is poised
on a delicate spring, and looks so natural that it
is easy to be deceived into believing it to be
alive. When the jasmine is in bloom beautiful
creations are made of these tiny flowers by
means of standards from which protrude fine
wires on which the flowers are strung in the
shape of butterflies or other symbols, and the
flowers massed in this way make a very effective
ornament. With the exception of the jasmine

254

Court Life in China

the flowers used in the hair are all artificial,
though natural flowers are worn in season —
roses in summer, orchids in late summer, and
chrysanthemums in autumn.

The prevailing idea with the Chinese ladies is
that the foreign woman does not comb her hair.
I have often heard my friends apologizing to
ladies whom they have brought to see me for the
first time, and on whom they wanted me to
make a good impression, by saying :

“ You must not mind her hair ; she is really so
busy she has no time to comb it. All her time is
spent in acts of benevolence.”

At the first audience when the Empress
Dowager received the foreign ladies, she pre-
sented each of them with two boxes of combs, one
ivory inlaid with gold, the other ordinary hard
wood, and the set was complete even to the fine
comb. One cannot but wonder if Her Majesty
■ had not heard of the untidy locks of the foreign
woman, which she attributed to a lack of proper
combs.

After the hair has been properly combed and
ornamented, cosmetics of white and carmine are
brought for the face and neck. The Manchu
lady uses these in great profusion, her Chinese
sister more sparingly. No Chinese lady, unless
a widow or a woman past sixty, is supposed to
appear in the presence of her family without a
full coating of powder and paint. A lady one

r

MRS. HEADLAND AND FRIENDS VISITING AT THE HOME OF DUKE JUNG

Social Life of the Chinese Woman 255

day complained to me of difficulty in lifting her
eyelids, and consulted me as to the reason.

“ Perhaps,” said I, “ they are partially paralyzed
by the lead in your cosmetics. Wash off the
paint and see if the nerves do not recover their
tone.”

“ But,” said she, “ I would not dare appear in
the presence of my husband or family without
paint and powder ; it would not be respectable.”

The final touch to the face is the deep carmine
spot on the lower lip.

The robing then begins. And what beautiful
robes they are ! the softest silks, over which are
worn in summer the most delicate of embroidered
grenadines, or in winter, rich satins lined with costly
furs, each season calling for a certain number and
kind. She then decorates herself with her jewels,
— earrings, bracelets, beads, rings, charms, em-
broidered bags holding the betel-nut, and the
tiny mirror in its embroidered case with silk tas-
sels. When these are hung on the buttons of
her dress her outfit is complete, and she arises
from her couch a wonderful creation, from her
glossy head, with every hair in place, to the toe
of her tiny embroidered slipper. But it has
taken the time of a half-dozen servants for three
hours to get these results.

To one accustomed to the Chinese or Manchu
mode of dress, she appears very beautiful. The
rich array of colours, the embroidered gowns, and

256 Court Life in China

the bright head-dress, make a striking picture.
Often as the ladies of a home or palace came out on
the veranda to greet me, or bid me adieu, I have
been impressed with their wonderful beauty, to
which our own dull colours, and cloth goods,
suffer greatly in comparison, and I could not
blame these good ladies for looking upon our
toilets with more or less disdain.

It is now after eleven o’clock and her breakfast
is ready to be served in another room. Word
that the leading lady of the household is about to
appear is sent to the other apartments. Hurried
finishing touches are given to toilets, for all
daughters, daughters-in-law and grandchildren
must be ready to receive her in the outer room
when she appears leaning on the arms of two
eunuchs if she is a princess, or on two stout
serving women if a Chinese.

According to her rank, each one in turn
takes a step towards her and gives a low courtesy
in which the left knee touches the floor. Even
the children go through this same formality.
All are gaily dressed, with hair bedecked and
faces painted like her own. She inclines her
head but slightly. These are the members of
her household over whom she has sway — her
little realm. While her mother-in-law lived she
was under the same rigorous rule.

In China where there are so many women in
the home it is necessary to have a head — one

Social Life of the Chinese Woman 257

who without dispute rules with autocratic sway.
This is the mother-in-law. When she dies the
first wife takes her place as head of the family.
A concubine may be the favourite of the hus-
band. He may give her fine apartments to
live in, many servants to wait on her, and
every luxury he can afford ; but there his
power ends. The first wife is head of the
household, is legally mother of all the children
born to any or all of the concubines her hus-
band possesses. The children all call her mother,
and the inferior wives recognize her as their mis-
tress. She and her daughters, and daughters-in-
law, attend social functions, receive friends, ex-
tend hospitality ; but the concubines have no
place in this, unless by her permission. When
the time comes for selecting wives for her sons, it
is the first wife who does it, although she maybe
childless herself. It is to her the brides of these
sons are brought, and to her all deference is due.
In rare cases, where the concubine has had the
good fortune to supply the heir to the throne or
to a princely family, she is raised to the position
of empress or princess. But this is seldom done,
and is usually remembered against the woman.
She is never received with the same feeling as if
she had been first wife.

One day I was asked to go to a palace to see
a concubine who was ill. In such cases I always
went directly to the Princess, and she took me to

Court Life in China

258

see the sick one. As we entered the room there
was a nurse standing with a child in her arms,
and the Princess called my attention to a blemish
on its face.

“ Can it be removed ? ” she asked.

I looked at it and, seeing that it would require
but a minor operation, told her it could.

While attending to the patient, the nurse, fear-
ing that the child would be hurt, left the room
and another entered with another child.

“ Now,” said the Piincess when we had finished
with the patient, “ we will attend to the child.”
And she called the woman to her.

“ But,” said the woman, “ this is not the child.”

“ There,” said the Princess, “ you see I do not
know my own children.”

But I left our friend receiving the morning
salutations of her household. These over, she
dismisses them to their own apartments, where
each mother sits down with her own children
to her morning meal, waited on by her own
servants. If there are still unmarried daughters,
they remain with their mother ; if none, she eats
alone.

Since Peking is in the same latitude as Phila-
delphia my lady has the same kinds of fruit —
apples, peaches, pears, apricots, the most de-
licious grapes, and persimmons as large as the
biggest tomato you ever saw ; indeed, the Chi-
nese call the tomato the western red persimmon.

Social Life of the Chinese Woman 259

She has mutton from the Mongolian sheep (the
hnest I have ever eaten), beef, pork or lamb ;
chicken, goose or duck ; hare, pheasant or deer,
or fish of whatever kind she may choose. Of
course these are all prepared after the Chinese
style, and be it said to the credit of their cooks
that our children are always ready to leave our
ovn table to partake of Chinese food.

After her meal she lingers for a few minutes
over her cup of tea and her pipe. In the mean-
time her cart or sedan chair is prepared. Her
outriders are ready with their horses ; the
eunuchs, women and slave girls who are to at-
tend her, don their proper clothing and prepare
the changes of raiment needed for the various
functions of the day. One takes a basin and
towels, another powder and rouge-boxes, another
the pipe and embroidered tobacco pouch, not
even forgetting the silver cuspidor, all of which
will be needed. When she eats, a servant gives
her a napkin to spread over her gown ; after she
has finished, another brings a basin of hot water,
from which a towel is wrung with which she gently
wipes her mouth and hands. Another brings
her a glass of water, or she washes out her mouth
with tea, and finally with the little mirror and
rouge-box, while she still sits at table, she touches
up her face with powder and she puts the paint
upon her lip if it has disappeared.

When ready to start, her cart or chair is drawn

26o

Court Life in China

up as close as possible to the gate of the women’s
apartments. A screen of blue silk eighteen or
twenty feet long and six feet high, fastened to
two wooden standards, is held by eunuchs to
screen her while she enters the cart. The chair
can be used only by princesses or wives of
viceroys or members of the Grand Council. But
whether chair or cart it is lined and cushioned
with scarlet satin in summer, and in winter with
fur. It is an accomplishment to enter a cart
gracefully, but years of practice enable her to do
so, and as soon as she is seated in Buddhist
fashion, the curtain is dropped ; her attendant
seats herself cross-legged in front ; several male
servants rush up, seize the shafts of the cart,
place the mule between them, fasten the buckles
(it reminds one of the fire department), the driver
takes his place at the lines, two other male serv-
ants take hold of the sides of the mule’s bridle,
and all is in readiness to start. Female servants
and slave girls crowd into other carts, outriders
mount their mules, and the cavalcade starts with
my lady’s cart ahead.

As they pass along the streets they are re-
marked upon by all foot-passengers, and as they
near their destination, a courier on horseback
spurs up his steed, makes a wild dash forward,
leaps from his horse, and announces to the gate-
keeper that the Princess will soon arrive. The
news is at once taken to the servants of the

Social Life of the Chinese Woman 261

women’s apartments, where the name is given to
a eunuch, who bears it to his mistress.

In the meantime the party has arrived. The
mule is unhitched, cart drawn to the gate, screen
spread, servant descends from front, and the
Princess with the help of a couple of eunuchs is
escorted through a long covered walk into the
court, where the ladies of the household are
waiting on the veranda to receive her. As she
enters the gateway the hostess begins slowly to
descend the steps. The others follow, and they
meet in the centre of the court. Low courtesies
are made by each and formal inquiries as to each
other’s health. There is a short stop and certain
formalities before the guest will ascend the steps
ahead of the hostess. The same occurs again
on entering the reception hall, and taking the
seat of honour. The luckless foreigner sometimes
makes the mistake of conceding to her guest’s
modesty and allows her to take a lower seat,
which is a grievous offense, and she is only par-
doned on the plea that she is an outside bar-
barian, and does not understand the rules of
polite society.

After she is seated tea is served, and servants
bring in trays of sweetmeats, fruit, nuts, dried
melon seeds, candied fruits and small cakes.
One of these nuts is unique. It is an “ English
walnut ” in which, after the outer hull is removed,
the shell is self-cracked, and folds back in places

262

Court Life in China

so that the kernel appears. While partaking of
these delicacies the object of the visit is an-
nounced, which is that her son is to be married
on a certain date. Of course official announce-
ments will be sent later, but she wishes to ask if
her hostess will act as one of her representatives
to carry the ju yi to the young lady’s home.

After the ladies have chatted for a time about
the latest official appointments, some court gos-
sip, the latest fashion in robe ornamentation, and
the newspaper news at home and abroad — for the
Chinese have ten or a dozen newspapers in
Peking, among which is the first woman’s daily
in the w'orld — the hostess invites her guest to see
her garden. They pass through a gateway into
a court in which are great trees, shrubbery, fish-
ponds spanned by marble bridges, covered
walks, beautiful rockeries, wistaria vines laden
with long clusters of blossoms, summer-houses,
miniature mountains, and flowers of all kinds — a
dream of beauty and loveliness. After returning
to the house another cup of tea is served, and the
guest rises to leave. But before doing so her
servants bring in a bundle of clothing, and there
in the presence of her hostess her outer robes are
changed for others of a more official character.

Her next call is at the birthday celebration of
the mother of one of the highest officials in the
capital. I was present when she arrived. In-
stead of entering by the front gate, she went by a

Social Life of the Chinese Woman 263

private entrance directly to the apartments of her
hostess. Many guests (all gentlemen) were as-
sembled in the front court, which was covered by
a mat pavilion and converted into a theatre.
The court was several feet lower than the adjoin-
ing house, the front windows of which were all re-
moved and it was used for the accommodation of
the lady guests. On the walls of the temporary
structure hung red satin and silk banners on
which were pinned ideographs cut out of gold
foil or black velvet, expressive of beautiful senti-
ments and good wishes for many happy returns
of the day. The Emperor, wishing to do this offi-
cial honour, has informed him that on his mother’s
birthday an imperial present will be sent her
which is a greater compliment than if sent to the
official himself.

It was a gala scene. Fresh guests arrived
every minute. The ladies in their most graceful
and dignified courtesies were constantly bending
as other guests were announced, while the gentle-
men, with low bows and each shaking his own
hands, received their friends. The clothes of the
men, though of a more sombre hue, were richer
in texture than those of the women. Heavy
silks and satins, embroidered with dragons in
gold thread, indicated that this one was a mem-
ber of the imperial clan, while others equally rich
were worn by the other gentlemen, each em-
broidered with the insignia of his rank. Hats

264 Court Life in China

adorned with red tassels, peacock feathers in jade
holders, and the button denoting the rank of the
wearer, were worn by all, as it would be a breach
of etiquette to remove the hat in the presence of
one’s host.

It would also be bad form for the gentlemen to
raise their eyes to where the ladies were seated ;
just as the latter, who must look over the heads
of the men to view the theatre, would not be
caught allowing their eyes to dwell upon any
one. But no doubt these gentle little ladies have
their own curiosity, and some means of finding
out who’s who among that court full of dragon-
draped pillars of state ; for I have never failed to
receive a ready answer when I inquired as to the
name of some handsome or distinguished-look-
ing guest whose identity I wished to learn.

The theatre goes on interminably. Like my
lady, they change their clothes, and the scenery,
in full view of the audience. The plays are
mostly historical, the women’s parts being taken
by men, as women are not allowed to go on the
stage. One daring company, in imitation of the
foreign custom, had a woman take one of the
parts ; but a special order from the viceroy put
the company out of commission, and the leader
in prison.

The guests were not expected to sit quietly
watching the play, but moved about greeting
each other and chatting at will. Servants

Social Life of the Chinese Woman 265

brought tea and sweetmeats and finally a ban-
quet was served. Near the close of the feast it
was announced that the imperial present was
coming, and the members of the household dis-
appeared. The deep boom of the drums and the
honk of the great horns were heard distinctly as
they entered the street, and soon the yellow
imperial chair, with its thirty-six bearers in the
royal livery, moved slowly towards us between
two rows of the male members of the household
who had gone out and were kneeling on both
sides of the street, knocking their heads as the
chair passed them. The great gates were thrown
open and there in the gateway the female mem-
bers of the family knelt and kotowed as the
chair passed by.

The presents were taken into a room specially
prepared for their reception. The head imperial
eunuch placed them in position, and, with a low
obeisance, departed, the richer by several hun-
dred ounces of silver. The gentlemen guests
were first invited to view these tokens of imperial
favour. In order of their rank they entered,
prostrating themselves before them. Later we
ladies were invited into the room, where the
Chinese all kotowed. What now were these
wonderful gifts before which these men and
women of rank and noble birth were falling upon
their faces ?

They were two squares of red paper, eighteen

266

Court Life in China

inches across, printed in outline of the imperial
dragon, on which the characters for long life and
happiness were written with the imperial pen ; and
a small yellow satin box in which sat a little gold
Buddha not more than an inch in height 1 It
was the thought, not the value, which elicited all
this appreciation.

Shall we go with this busy little princess to an-
other festal occasion ? I was with her again.
It was at the home of the sister of one of the
sweetest little princesses in the whole empire.
Her baby was a month old and she was celebra-
ting what they call the full month feast. Instead,
however, of having the usual feasting and theat-
ricals, the mother, who, for days after her child
was born, lay at death’s door, sent out invita-
tions to her friends to come and fast and give
thanks to the gods for sparing her life.

Though the child was a month old the mother
was too wan and weak to leave her couch. She
was dressed, however, in festal robes, and re-
ceived her guests with many gracious words and
apologies. Of course only ladies were present.
The great covered court was converted into a
large shrine. One could imagine they were
looking into the main hall of a temple, only that
everything was so clean and beautiful. From
the centre of the shrine a Goddess of Mercy
looked down complacently upon the array of
fruit, nuts, sweetmeats and cakes spread out be-

Social Life of the Chinese Woman 267

fore her. Many candles in their tall candlesticks
were burning on every side. Before her was a
great bronze incense-burner, from which many
sticks of incense sent out their fragrant odour on
the air. As each guest passed through the court,
she took a stick from the pile, lit it, and, with a
word of prayer, added it to the number.

After the guests had all arrived a princess —
sister of the hostess — accompanied by two of the
leading guests, descended into the paved court
and took her place before the altar. Deep-toned
bells were touched by small boys whose shaven
heads and priestly robes denoted that they, like
little Samuel, were being brought up within the
courts of the temple. The Princess took a great
bunch of incense in her two hands, one of her
attendants lit it with a torch prepared for that
purpose, the flame and smoke ascended amid the
deep tones of the bells, as she prostrated herself
before the goddess. She looked like a beautiful
fairy herself as she stood with the flaming bunch
of incense held high above her head. Three
times she prostrated herself and nine times she
bent forward, fulfilling all the requirements of the
law.

At the close of this ceremony the ladies were
invited to partake of a feast prepared wholly of
vegetables and vegetable oils. It requires much
more skill to prepare such a feast than when
meat and animal oils are used. The food fur-

268

Court Life in China

nished interesting topics for discussion. Most
of it was prepared by various temples, each be-
ing celebrated for some particular dish, which it
was asked to provide for the occasion.

It is not uncommon for a Chinese lady to take
upon herself a vow in which she promises the
gods to observe certain days of each month as
fast days, on condition that they restore to health
a mother, father, husband or child. No matter
what banquet she attends she need only mention
to her hostess that she has a vow and she is
made the chief guest, helping others but eating
nothing herself. After this full month feast the
baby was seen, its presents admired, the last cup
of tea drunk, the farewells said, and we all re-
turned home.

XVII

The Chinese Ladies — Their Ills

My home is girdled by a limpid stream,

And there in summer days life’s movements pause,
Save where some swallow flits from beam to beam.
And the wild sea-gull near and nearer draws.

The good wife rules a paper board for chess j
The children beat a fish-hook out of wire ;

My ailments call for physic more or less.

What else should this poor frame of mine require ?
“ Tu Fu,” Tratislated by Herbert A. Giles.

XVII

THE CHINESE LADIES— THEIR ILLS ^

ONE day a eunuch dashed into the back
gate of our compound in Peking, rode
up to the door of the library, dismounted
from his horse, and handed a letter in a red en-
velope to the house servant who met him on the
steps.

“ What is the matter?” asked the boy.

“The Princess is ill,” replied the servant.

“ What Princess ? ” further inquired the boy.

“ Our Princess,” was the reply.

“ Oh, you are from the palace near the west
gate ? ”

“ Yes,” and the boy and the servant continued
their conversation until the former had learned
all that the letter contained, whereupon he brought
me the message.

I opened the letter, written in the Chinese
ideographs, and called the messenger in.

“ Is the Princess very ill ? ” I inquired.

“Not very,” he answered, “ but she has been
indisposed for several days.”

“When does she want me to go ? ” I inquired,

1 Taken from Mrs. Headland’s note-book.

271

272

Court Life in China

for I had long ago learned that a few inquiries
often brought out interesting and valuable in-
formation.

“ At once,” he answered ; “ the cart will be here
in a few minutes.”

By the time I had made ready my medical
outfit the cart had arrived. It was very much
like a great Saratoga trunk on two wheels. It
was without seat and without springs, but filled
with thick cushions, and as I had learned to sit
tailor fashion it was not entirely uncomfortable
to ride in. It had gauze curtains in summer,
and was lined with quilted silk or fur in winter,
and was a comfortable conveyance.

When I reached the palace I was met by the
head eunuch, who conducted me at once to the
apartments of the Princess. Her reception
room was handsomely furnished with rich, carved,
teak-wood furniture after the Manchu fashion,
with one or two large, comfortable, leather-
covered easy chairs of foreign make. Clocks
sat upon the tables and window-sills, and fine
Swiss watches hung on the walls. Beautiful jade
and other rich Chinese ornaments were arranged
in a tasteful way about the room. On the wall
hung a picture painted by the Empress Dowager,
a gift to the Prince on his birthday.

After a moment’s waiting the Princess ap-
peared attended by her women and slave girls.

“ I beg your pardon for not having my hair

The Chinese Ladies — Their Ills 273

properly dressed,” she said, as she took my
hands in hers, the custom of these Manchu prin-
cesses and even the Empress Dowager herself,
in greeting foreign ladies. “ I welcome you
back to Peking after your summer vacation.”

When the usual salutations had been passed
she told me her trouble and I gave her the
proper medicine, with minute instructions as to
how to take it, which I also repeated to her
women.

“ The cause of my illness,” she explained, “ is
over-fatigue. I had to be present at court on
the eighth of the eighth month and I became
very tired from standing all day.”

“ But could you not sit down ? ” I asked.

“ Not in the presence of the Empress Dowager,”
she replied.

“ Of course, I know you could not sit down in
the presence of Her Majesty, but could you not
withdraw and rest a while?” I inquired.

“Not that day. It was a busy and tiresome
day for us all,” she replied.

While we were talking the young Princess,
her son’s wife, came in and greeted her mother-
in-law in a formal but kindly way, and gave her
hands to me just as the Princess had done.
She remained standing all the time she was in the
room, as did four of the secondary princesses or
wives of her husband. They were all beautifully
dressed, but they are beneath the Princess in

274 Court Life in China

rank, and so must stand in her presence. If the
Prince’s mother had come in, as she often did
when I was there, the Princess would have to
stand and wait on her. All Manchu families are
very particular in this respect.

“You will be interested,” said the Princess,
“in one phase of our visit to the palace.” Then
turning to one of her women she said : “ Bring
me those two pairs of shoes.”

“ These,” she explained, “ are like some made
by my mother-in-law and myself as presents for
the Empress Dowager. On the eighth of the
eighth month we have a feast, when the ladies of
the royal household are invited into the palace,
and our custom is for each of us to present Her
Majesty with a pair of shoes.”

The shoes were daintily embroidered, though
not so pretty as some I have seen the Empress
Dowager wear. Some of her shoes are decorated
with beautiful pearls and others are covered with
precious stones.

“ The Empress Dowager,” continued . the
Princess, “ is very vain of her small feet ; though,”
she continued, as she put her own foot out, en-
cased in the daintiest little embroidered slipper of
light-blue satin, “ it is not so small as my own.”

It seemed very human to hear this delicate lit-
tle Princess make a remark of this kind. Of
course, both she and the Empress Dowager have
natural feet.

THE EMPRESS DOWAGER

:

The Chinese Ladies — Their Ills 275

It was late in the afternoon, some months after
my visit to the Princess, that a very different call
came for my services.

The boy came in and told me that a man
wanted me to go to see his wife, who lived in the
southern city outside the Ha-ta gate. It has al-
ways been my custom never to refuse any one
whether they be rich or poor, and so I told him
to call a cart.

It was in midwinter and a bitter cold night,
the room was without fire and yet there was a
child of three or four toddling about upon the
kang or brick bed whose only garment was a
long coat.

“You should put a pair of trousers on that
child,” I said, “ or it will catch cold and I will
soon have to come again.”

“ Yes,” they said, “ we will put trousers on it.”

“ You had better do it at once,” I insisted.

“Yes,” they continued, “we will see that it is
dressed.”

After attending to the woman, and again
urging them to dress the child, I wrapped my
warm cloak around me and started home, though
I could not forget the child.

“ It is a cold night,” I said to the driver as we
started on our way.

“ Yes,” he answered, “ there will be some un-
comfortable people in the city to-night.”

“ In that house we just left,” I continued, for I

Court Life in China

276

could not banish the child from my thoughts,
“ there was a little child playing on the bed with-
out a shred of trousers on.”

“ Quite right,” said he ; “ they pawned the
trousers of that child to get money to pay me for
taking you to see the sick woman.”

“ To pay you ! ” said I, with indignation, and
yet with admiration for the character of the peo-
ple for whom I was giving my services — “ to pay
you 1 Then drive right back and give them their
money and tell them to go and redeem those
trousers and put them on the child ! ”

“ The city gate will be closed before we can
reach it if I return,” said he, “ and we will not be
able to get in to-night.”

“No matter about that,” I insisted, “ go back
and give them the money.”

He turned around with many mutterings, lashed
up his mule at the top of his speed, gave them the
money, and then started on a gallop for the city
gate. It was a rough ride in that springless cart
over the rutty roads. But my house seemed
warmer that night and my bed seemed softer
after I had paid the carter myself.

Among my friends and patients none are more
interesting than the Misses Hsii. They are very
intelligent, and after I had become well acquainted
with them I said to them one day :

“ How is it that you have done such wide read-
ing ? ”

The Chinese Ladies — Their Ills 277

“You know, of course,” they said, “that our
father is a cJmang yuan."

I asked them the meaning of a chuang yuan.
Then I learned that under the Chinese system a
great many students enter the examinations, and
those who secure their degree are called hsiu
tsai ; a year or two later these are examined
again, and those who pass are given the degree
of chu jen ; once more these latter are examined
and the successful candidates are called chin shih,
and are then ready for official position. They
continue to study, however, and are allowed to
go into the palace, where they are examined in
the presence of the Emperor, and those who pass
are called han lin., or forest of pencils. Once in
three years these han lins are examined and one
is allowed to obtain a degree — he is a chuang
yuan.

Out of four hundred million people but one is
allowed this degree once in three years.

“ Your father must be a very great scholar,” I
remarked.

“ He has always been a diligent student,” they
answered, modestly.

“What is his given name?” I inquired, one
day.

“ If you will give me a pencil I will write it for
you ; we never speak the given name of our
father in China,” said the eldest, and she wrote it
down.

Court Life in China

278

“ How many sisters are there in your family —
eight, are there not ? ”

“Yes. You know, of course, that number five
was engaged when a child of six to the son of Li
Hung-chang.”

“No, I was not aware of the fact ; and were they
married? ”

“ No, they were never married. The young
man died before they were old enough to wed.
When word of his death was brought to her, child
that she was, she went to our mother and told
her she must never engage her to any one else,
as she meant to live and die the widow of this
boy.”

“ And did she go to Li Hung-chang’s home?”

“ No, the old Viceroy wanted to take her to his
home, build a suite of rooms for her, and treat her
as his daughter-in-law, but our parents objected
because she was so young. The Viceroy loved
her very much, and his eyes often filled with tears
as he spoke of her and the son who had passed
away. When the Viceroy died she wanted to go
and kotow at his funeral, and all his family ex-
cept the eldest son were anxious to have her do
so, and thus be recognized as one of the family.
But this son objected, and though Lady Li
knocked her head on the coffin until it bled he
would not yield, lest she might want her portion.”

“ And what has become of your sister ? How
is it that I have never seen her ? ”

The Chinese Ladies — Their Ills 279

“ She withdrew to a small court, where she has
lived with none but her women servants, not even
seeing our father or brothers, and not allowing a
male servant to go near her. And she will not
permit the word Li to be spoken in her presence.”

“And what does she do?” I asked. “How
does she employ herself?”

“ Studying, reading, painting, and embroidery.
When young Li refused to allow her to attend
his father’s funeral her sense of self-respect was
outraged and she cut off her hair and threatened
to commit suicide. She often fasts for a week,
and has tried on several occasions to take her
own life.”

I asked them if they did not fear that she
might succeed finally in this attempt to kill her-
self.

“Yes, we have constant apprehensions. But
then, what if she did ? It would only emphasize
her virtue.”

It was some months after the young ladies told
me what I have just related that they called, for
they had taken up the study of English and I
had agreed to help them a bit.

“ How is your sister? ” I inquired, for the sad
fate of this young girl weighed like a burden on
my heart.

“ She fasted more than usual during the early
summer, but she bathed daily and changed her
clothes, dressing herself in her most beautiful gar-

28o

Court Life in China

ments. She had not been sleeping well for some
time, and one day she ordered her women to leave
her and not return until they were called. They
remained away until a married sister and a sister-
in-law — a niece of Li Hung-chang — called and
wanted to see her. We went to her room but
found it locked. We knocked but received no
answer. We finally punched a hole through the
paper window and saw her sitting on her brick
bed, her head bolstered up with cushions and her
eyes closed. We supposed she was sleeping,
but on forcing open the door we found that she
had gone to join her boy husband, though her
colour and appearance was that of a living per-
son.”

“ And are you sure she had not swooned ? ”

” She remained in this condition for twenty-two
hours without pulse or heart beat, and so we put
her in her casket.”

I could not but feel sad that I had not been in
the city, and had had an opportunity to help
them to ascertain whether her life had really
gone out. But the girls seemed proud of the
distinction of having had a sister of such con-
summate virtue. Numerous embroidered scrolls
and laudatory inscriptions were sent her from
friends of the Li family as well as of their own,
and it is expected that the throne will order a
memorial arch erected to her memory.

On another occasion I was requested to go to

The Chinese Ladies — Their Ills 281

the palace of one of the princes. The fourth
Princess, a beautiful little child of five, was ill
with diphtheria, and the first greeting of the
mother as I went in was that she “ was homesick
to see me.” The child had been ill for several
days before they sent for me, and I told them at
once that the case was dangerous. I wanted to
do all I could for them and at the same time pro-
tect my own children from the danger of infec-
tion. After the first treatment with antitoxin she
seemed to rally, her throat cleared up, but I soon
found that the poison had pervaded her entire
system, and so I stayed with her day and night.

I found that the child had contracted the dis-
ease from another about her own age, who was
both her playmate and her slave. It is the cus-
tom among the wealthy to purchase for each
daughter a companion who plays with her as a
child, becomes a companion in youth and her
maid when she marries. These slaves are usu-
ally treated well, and when this one became ill
the members of the family visited her often, ta-
king her such dainties as might tempt her appe-
tite. As a result I had to administer antitoxin
to eight of the younger members of the house-
hold, so careless had they been about the spread
of this disease ; indeed I have found that the iso-
lation of patients suffering from contagious dis-
eases is wholly unknown in China.

One of the most attractive of all my Chinese

282

Court Life in China

lady friends and patients is the niece of the great
Viceroy, Li Hung-chang, the daughter of his
brother, Li Han-chang, who is himself a viceroy.
I have been her physician for eighteen years or
more and hence have become intimately ac-
quainted with her. She has visited me very
often in my home and, of all the women I have
ever known, of any race or people, I have never
met one whom I thought more cultured or re-
fined than she. This may seem a strange state-
ment, but the quiet dignity that she manifested
on all occasions and her charming manners are
not often met with. I have never felt on enter-
ing a drawing-room such an atmosphere of re-
finement as seemed to surround her.

That the Chinese take very kindly to foreign
medicine there is no doubt, though it is some-
times amusing how they go back to their own
native methods.

One day my husband brought home a physio-
logical chart about the size of an ordinary man.
It was covered with black spots and I asked him
the reason for them.

“ That is what I asked the dealer from whom I
bought it,” he replied, “ and he told me that those
spots indicate where the needle can be inserted
in treatment by acupuncture without killing the
patient.”

When a Chinese is ill the doctor generally con-
cludes that the only way to cure him is to stick a

The Chinese Ladies — Their Ills 283

long needle into him and let out the pain or set
up counter irritation. If the patient dies it is
evident he stuck the needle into the wrong spot.
And this chart has been made up from millions
of experiments during the past two or three thou-
sand years from patients who have died or re-
covered.

This was practically illustrated by a woman
who was brought to the hospital. Having had
pain in the knee she sent for a Chinese physician
who concluded that the only method of relieving
her was by acupuncture. He therefore inserted
a needle which unfortunately pierced the synovial
sac causing inflammation which finally resulted in
complete destruction of the joint. Such cases
are not infrequent both among adults and chil-
dren in all grades of society, due to this method
of treatment.

One day I was called to see a lady who was in
immediate need of surgical treatment. She had
three sons who were in high official positions in
the palace, and if their mother died they would
have to withdraw from official life and go into
mourning for three years. When men are thus
compelled to resign the new incumbent is not in-
clined to restore the office when the period of
mourning is over. They were therefore doubly
anxious to have their mother recover. They had
tried all kinds of Chinese physicians and finally
sent for me.

Court Life in China

284

I explained the nature of the operation neces-
sary, and gave them every reason to hope for a
speedy recovery, while without surgical treat-
ment she must surely die. They consented and
the operation was successful. She recovered
rapidly for a few days until I regarded her as
practically out of danger. But one day when I
called I found her bathed in perspiration, shaking
with fear, weeping and depressed. Her wound
was in an excellent condition and I could find no
reason for her despondency. I cheered her up,
laughed and talked with her, gave her such ar-
ticles of diet as she craved, and left her happy.
The next day I again found her in the same nerv-
ous condition.

“Something is wrong with your mother of
which you have not told me,” I said to her son.

“ Before we sent for you,” he said, “ we had
called a spirit doctor, who went into a sort of
trance, claimed to have descended into the spirit
world where he saw them making a coffin which
he said my mother would occupy before the fif-
teenth of the month. It is because that time is
approaching that she is filled with fear.”

I talked with the lady, showed her how her
wound was healing, encouraged her to rest easy
until the fifteenth, when I would spend the day
with her, after which she immediately began
gaining strength and soon recovered.

At another time I was called to see the wife of

The Chinese Ladies — Their Ills

285

the president of the Board of Punishments. I
found an operation necessary. The next day I
found the patient delirious with a fever, and
asked the husband if my directions had been fol-
lowed.

“ I assure you they have,” he answered. “But
the cause of the fever is this : Last evening while
the servants were taking their meal she was left
alone for a short time. While they were absent,
her sister who lived on this street, a short dis-
tance from here, committed suicide. When the
servant discovered it she ran directly to my wife’s
room, and told her of the tragedy. My wife be-
gan to tremble, had a severe chill, and soon be-
came delirious. I suspect that her sister’s spirit
accompanied the servant and entered my wife.”

In spite of this explanation I cleaned and
dressed the wound and left her more comfortable.
The next morning she was somewhat better,
without fever and in her right mind.

“ What kind of a night did she have ? ” I asked
her husband.

“ Oh, very good,” he answered. “ I managed
to get the spirit out of her.”

“ How did you do it ?” I inquired.

“ Soon after you left yesterday, I dressed my-
self in my official garments, came into my wife’s
apartments, and asked the spirit if it would not
like to go with me to the yamen, adding that we
would have some interesting cases to settle. I

286

Court Life in China

felt a strange sensation come over me and I
knew the spirit had entered me. I got into my
cart, drove down to the home of my sister-in-law,
went in where the corpse lay, and told the spirit
that it would be a disgrace to have a woman at
the Board of Punishments. ‘ This is your place,’
I said, in an angry voice ; ‘ get out of me and
stay where you belong.’ I felt the spirit leaving
me, my fingers became stiff and I felt faint. I
had only been at the Board a short time when
they sent a servant to tell me that my wife was
quiet and sleeping. When I returned in the
evening the fever was gone and she was
rational.”

XVIII

The Funeral Ceremonies of a Dowag
Princess

There are five degrees of mourning, as follows : — For
parents, grandparents and great-grandparents ; for brothers
and sisters ; for uncles and aunts ; and for distant relatives.
In the first sackcloth without hem or border j in the second
with hem or border ; in the third, fourth and fifth, pieces
of sackcloth on parts of the dress. When sackcloth is
worn, after the third interval of seven days is over the
mourners can cast it off, and wear plain colours, such as
white, gray, black and blue. For a parent the period is
nominally three years, but really twenty-seven months,
during all which time no silk can be worn j during this
time officials have to resign their appointments, and retire
from public life.

— Dyer Ball in “ Things Chines eT

XVIII

THE FUNERAL CEREMONIES OF A DOWAGER
PRINCESS '

ONE day I received a large sheet of white
paper on which was written in Chinese
characters the announcement of the
death of the Dowager Princess Su, and inviting
me to the “ third-day exercises.” The real mean-
ing of this "'■ chieJi san” I did not comprehend,
but I knew that those who were invited sent
presents of cakes or fruit, or baskets of paper
flowers, incense, gold and silver ingots made of
paper, or rolls of paper silk, all of which were in-
tended for the use of the spirit of the departed.
The paper presents were all burned on the even-
ing of the third day, while the spirit feasted upon
the flavour of the fruit and cakes.

As I did not feel that it was appropriate for me
to send these things, I had a beautiful wreath of
white chr}^santhemum flowers made, and sent
that instead. While I appreciated the invitation,
I thought it was probably given only as a matter
of form, and that I was not expected to attend
the exercises, and so I sent my Chinese maid
with the wreath, saying that as I did not under-
stand their customs I would not go.

Taken from Mrs. Headland’s note-book.

289

29P

Court Life in China

It was not long until the maid returned saying
that they were anxious to have me come, that
under no circumstances must I refuse, as they
wished me to see their funeral ceremonies. The
Princess sent her cart for me, and according to
the Chinese custom, I took my maid seated upon
the front, and set out for Prince Su’s palace. As
we neared our destination we passed numerous
carts and chairs of princes who had been at the
palace to pay their respects. The street leading
off the great thoroughfare was filled with carts,
chairs, servants and outriders, but the utmost
order prevailed. There were scores of soldiers
and special police, the latter dressed in long gar-
ments of gray with a short jacket of white on the
breast of which was his number in black. These
gray and white uniforms were mourning colours,
and were given by the Prince.

As we entered the gate we saw white-robed
servants everywhere, each with a sober face and
a dignified bearing, waiting to be of use. My
name was announced and two servants stepped
out from the crowd, clothed from head to feet in
white sackcloth, one presenting his arm to help
me through the court, as though I were a bound-
footed woman, and the other led the way. We
were taken by a roundabout path, through nu-
merous courts and passages, the front being re-
served for the male guests, and were finally ush-
ered into a room filled with white-robed women

Funeral Ceremonies 291

servants, who with one accord bent their knee in
a low courtesy.

We were there met by the first and third Prin-
cesses, daughters of the Dowager who had just
passed away. They were dressed in white, their
hair being put up in the Manchu fashion. In-
stead of the jewels and bright flowers, however,
it was crossed and recrossed with bands of white
folded sackcloth. As these two ladies were mar-
ried daughters, and had left this home, their sack-
cloth was not so coarse as that of the daughters-
in-law and granddaughters who dwelt in the
palace. It was they who received the guests
and conducted them into the room where the
mourners were kneeling.

As the white door screen was raised I saw two
rows of white-robed figures kneeling on the floor,
and as I entered they all bent forward and touched
their head to the ground, giving forth as they did
it a low, wailing chant.

Not knowing their customs I went up and
stooped over, speaking first to the Princess and
then to the ladies as best I could. I afterwards
watched the other lady visitors and saw that
they put their right hand up near their head as
our soldiers salute, and courtesied to the Princess,
her daughter-in-law and her eldest daughter.
They then went over to a little table on which
was a silver sacrificial set, consisting of a wine
tankard, a great bowl, and a number of tiny cups

292

Court Life in China

holding but two tablespoonfuls. They took the
cup in its little saucer, and, facing the beautiful
canopied catafalque where the Dowager Princess
was lying in state, they raised the cup as high as
their head three times, emptying and refilling it
each time. The mourners prostrated themselves
and gave forth a mournful wail each time the cup
was poured, after which the visitor arose and
came over to where we were, and the ceremony
was over.

The third daughter of the late Dowager seemed
to regard me as her special friend and guest, and
insisted on my coming over to a white curtain
that separated us from the view of the gentlemen,
and from there I watched the proceedings of
princes and officials who went through a similar
ceremony. There was this difference with them,
however, as they entered through the great
canopied court, they were conducted by white-
robed servants directly to the altar, and there
kneeling, they made their obeisance to the spirit
of the departed, after which they went into the
room where the Prince and the other male de-
scendants of the dead Dowager were kneeling and
prostrating themselves.

There was a heavy yellow curtain over the door
that led into the sacrificial hall, and when the
servants from without announced a visitor, this
curtain was drawn aside, and as the guest and a
flood of light entered, the mourners began their

Funeral Ceremonies

293

wailing which they continued until he had de-
parted. These visitors remained but a moment,
while the ladies who were there w’ere all near
relatives, and were dressed either entirely or
partially in sackcloth.

The room in which these ladies knelt was
draped in white. The cushions were all covered
with white, and all porcelain and other decora-
tions had been removed. The floor was covered
with a heavy rope matting, on which the ladies
knelt — all except the Princess, for whom was
prepared a small dark blue felt cushion. The
Princess knelt at the northwest corner of the
room, directly in front of the curtain which
separated them from the sacrificial hall. Several
of the very near male relatives entered and gave
the low Manchu courtesy to the Princess, the
son’s wife, and the eldest daughter, though none
of the other kneeling ladies were recognized.
They left immediately without, so far as I noticed,
raising their eyes.

The Prince, his sons and the other mourners in
the men’s room were clothed in white fur, and the
servants too, who stood in the sacrificial hall, and
at intervals along the way towards the hall, wore
white fur coats instead of sackcloth.

To the left of the Princess there knelt in suc-
cession all the secondary wives of Prince Su, and if
I mistake not there were five of these concubines.
Behind the Princess knelt her son’s wife — the

294 Court Life in China

future Princess Su, and on her left, the daughters
and granddaughters of the Prince knelt in succes-
sion. The Princess and secondary princesses
had bands of sackcloth wouird around their
heads, though their hair hung down their backs
in two long braids, and as I had never seen these
princesses except when clothed in beautifully em-
broidered satin garments, with hair put up in
elaborate coiffures, decked with jewels and
flowers, and faces painted and powdered in the
proper Manchu fashion, it was not easy to rec-
ognize them in these white-robed, yellow-faced
women, with hair hanging down their backs.

The grandson’s wife and granddaughters, on
the other hand, had their hair combed, but the
long hairpin was of silver instead of jade or
gold, and instead of being decorated with jewels
and flowers, and a red cord, it was crossed and
recrossed with bands of folded sackcloth an inch
and a half in width. It was neat and very effect-
ive— the black hair and white cloth making a
pretty contrast to the Western eye, though it
would probably not be so considered by the
Chinese.

After I had watched them for a few moments I
said to the princess who accompanied me :

“ I must not intrude upon your time longer ;
you have been very kind to allow me to witness
all these interesting customs.”

“ Oh, but you must not go now,” she insisted ;

Funeral Ceremonies 295

“you must remain and see the arrival of the
priests, and the burning of the paper houses,
goods, chattels, and images on the great street.
I want you to understand all our customs, and
this is the greatest and most interesting day of
the funeral ceremonies.”

I urged that I ought not to intrude myself
upon them at this time.

“No, no,” she said, “you must not say that.
It is not intrusion ; you must stay and dine with
us this evening.”

When I still insisted upon going she said that
if I went they would feel that I did not care for
them, and she was so persistent that I consented
to remain if the maid might be sent home to the
children, which they at once arranged for.

In the interval between the arrival of male
guests, the ladies took me out into a large
canopied court to see the decorations, and into
the sacrificial hall. These ceremonies were all
conducted in the house and court which the
Dowager Princess had occupied, and where I had
often gone to see her when she wanted to thank
me for some medical attention I had given her
children or grandchildren.

As we passed through the great gate, I
noticed that the court was covered with a mat
pavilion making a room about one hundred and
fifty feet square, lighted by great squares of glass
near the top, and decorated with banners of

Court Life in China

296

rich brocade silks or satins, of sober colours,
blue, gr8.y or white, on which were texts extolling
the virtues of the late Dowager or her family.
These were the gifts of friends, who had been
coming and would continue to come for days if
not weeks.

At the north end as one came in at the gate
was a gallery running the whole length of the
northern court, fitted up with special hangings
which separated it into different compartments.
Many elegant banners and decorations gave it a
striking effect. This was the place where the
priests, who had not yet arrived, were to say
their prayers day and night until the funeral
ceremonies were over.

Directly in front of the catafalque, in the gallery,
there was a table on which I afterwards saw the
priests place a silver vessel which the head priest
carried, and the others regarded with much
solemnity.

From the gateway leading into the sacrificial
hall the floor of the court had been raised even
with the door of the house and the gate, a height
of about five feet, and forty feet wide, and was
covered with the same kind of rope matting that
was on the floors. On the canopied verandas
there were stacks of cakes, incense, fruit and
money. These were the most novel sights I
have ever seen in China. They were ten or
twelve feet high. They were a very pretty sight.

Funeral Ceremonies 297

and it required some scrutiny to discover that
they were made of cakes and fruit. How they
were able to build them thus, tier upon tier, and
prevent their falling when they were touched is
beyond my comprehension. What magic there
is in it I do not know.

As one entered the door of the sacrificial hall,
towering above everything else, was the great
catafalque, draped in cloth of gold, and in front
of it were stacks of these sacrificial cakes. Near
them there was a table on which there were great
white, square candles, five inches or more in
diameter, the four sides of which were stamped
with figures of fairies and immortals. On this
table there were also various savoury dishes, to-
gether with cakes and fruit, prepared to feed the
spirit of the dead. In front of this table again
there was another about a foot high on which
were placed the sacrificial wine vessels, and be-
fore which the guests knelt. As we entered I
saw the gentlemen kneeling to the left, while the
ladies, separated from them by white curtains,
were kneeling to the right.

After we had seen the various customs without,
I was taken into the dining-room, where I sat
down with the young Princess and her two
aunts, daughters of the Dowager. They were
very kind and polite, and did all in their power
to make me feel at home. We were attended by
white-robed eunuchs, who knelt when they spoke

298

Court Life in China

to the Princess. There was such a lot of
them.

“ How many servants do you use ordinarily?”
I asked the eldest daughter.

“ About four hundred,” she replied.

I thought of the task of robing four hundred
servants in new white sackcloth, and attending
to all the other things that I had seen, in the
forty-eight hours since the death of the Dowager
Princess. Even the bread, instead of being
dotted with red as it is ordinarily, was dotted
with black 1

As we were finishing our supper we heard the
horns of the priests and went to see them arrive.
Prince Su, and the other male members of the
family, went out to the door to receive them, but
we remained within. They first went to the
gallery, then the head priest came down into the
sacrificial hall and made nine prostrations before
the catafalque, without, however, pouring or of-
fering wine. After each third prostration he
stood up and raised his clasped hands to a level
with his eyes. They then began their weird
music, standing on the two sides of the raised
platform between the gate and the house, thus
allowing a passageway between them for the
guests.

The Princess told me that they were about to
form a procession to go to the great street. I
therefore took my leave in order that I might

Funeral Ceremonies 299

precede them and see the procession arrive, and
witness the burning of the presents for the spirit.

When I arrived on the great street I there be-
held a paper cart and horses which were intended
to transport the spirit to the eastern heaven.
There was a sedan chair for her use after her ar-
rival, numerous servants, money, silk, and a
beautiful, big house for her to dwell in, all made
of paper. I had not long to wait for the proces-
sion, which was headed by the priests playing
mournful, wailing music on large and small
horns and drums. The priests were followed by
the mourners and their friends. When they ar-
rived at the place of the burning, the mourners
prostrated themselves upon white cushions be-
fore the paper furnishings amid the shrieks of the
instruments, the wailing of the hired mourners,
and the petitions of the priests for the spirits to
assist the departed on her way.

While this was going on, fire was applied to
various parts of the paper pile, and in a moment
a great flame sprang up into the air — a flame
that could be seen from miles around, and in less
time than it takes to tell it the whole was a heap
of glowing ashes, the mourners had departed,
and the little street children were stirring it up
with long sticks.

The first three days after death, the spirit is
supposed to visit the different temples, going, as
it were, from official court to official court receiv-

300

Court Life in China

ing judgment, and cards of merit or demerit to
take with it, for the deeds done in the body. On
the third day it returns to say farewell to the
home, and then leaves for its long journey, and
all this paper furniture is sent on ahead.

They continue forty-nine days of prayers by
the priests, alternating three days by the Bud-
dhists, three by the Lamas, and three by the
Taoists, after which the Buddhists take their
turn again. Everything else remains much as I
have described it. The family, servants, every-
body in mourning, and all business put aside to
make way for this ceremony of mourning, mourn-
ing, mourning, when they ought to be rejoicing,
for the poor old Princess had been a paralytic for
years and was far better out of her misery.

The Princess frequently sent her cart for me
during these days. Once when I was going
through the court where there were vast quanti-
ties of things to be burned for the spirit, all made
of paper, I noticed some that were so natural
that I was unable to distinguish between them
and the real things. Especially was this true of
the furniture and flowers like that which had been
in her apartments. There were great ebony
chairs with fantastically marked marble seats,
cabinets, and all the furniture necessary for her
use. Among these things I noticed on the table
a pack of cards and a set of dice, of which she
had been very fond, and a chair like the one in

Funeral Ceremonies

301

which the eunuchs had carried the crippled old
Princess about the court, and I said to the young
Princess who accompanied me :

“You do not think your grandmother will re-
quire these things in the spirit world, do you ? ”

“ Perhaps not,” she replied, “ but she enjoyed
her cards and dice, and the chair was such a
necessity, that, whether she needs them or not, it
is a comfort to us to get and send her everything
she liked while she lived, and it helps us bear our
sorrows.”

Chinese Princes and Officials

In any estimate of the forces which lead and control
public opinion in China, everywhere from the knot of
peasants in the hamlet to the highest officers of state and
the Emperor himself, the literati, or educated class, must
be given a prominent position. They form an immense
body, increased each year by the government examina-
tions. They are at the head of the social order. Every
civil officer in the empire must be chosen from their num-
ber. They constitute the basis of an elaborate system of
civil service, well equipped with checks and balances
which, if corrected and brought into touch with modern
life and thought, would easily command the admiration of
the world.

— Chester Holcomb in “ The Real Chinese Question."

XIX

CHINESE PRINCES AND OFFICIALS

ONE day while the head eunuch from the
palace of one of the leading princes in
Peking was sitting in my study he said :
“ It is drawing near to the New Year. Do you
celebrate the New Year in your honourable coun-
try ? ”

“Yes,” I replied, “though not quite the same
as you do here.”

“ Do you fire off crackers ? ”

“ Yes, in the matter of firecrackers, we celebrate
very much the same as you do.”

“ And do you settle up all your debts as we do
here?”

“ I am afraid we do not. That is not a part of
our New Year celebration.”

“ Our Prince is going to take on two more
concubines this New Year,” he volunteered.

“Ah, indeed, I thought he had three concu-
bines already.”

“ So he does, but he is entitled to five.”

“ I should think it would make trouble in a
family for one man to have so many women,” I
ventured.

He waved his hand in that peculiar way the
305

306 Court Life in China

Chinese have of saying, don’t mention it, as he
answered ;

“ That is a difficult matter to discuss. Natu-
rally if this woman sees the Prince talking to that
one, this one is going to eat vinegar,” which
gives us a glimpse of some of the domestic diffi-
culties in Chinese high life. However it is a fact
worth remembering that the Manchu prince does
not receive his full stipend from the government
until he has five concubines, each of whom is the
mother of a son.

The leading princes of the new regime are
Ching, Su, and Pu-lun. Prince Ching has been
the leader of the Manchus ever since the down-
fall of Prince Kung. He has held almost every
office it was in the power of the Empress Dow-
ager to give, “ though disliked by the Emperor.”
He was made president of the Tsung-li Yamen
in 1884, and from that time until the present has
never been degraded, or in any way lost the im-
perial favour. He is small in stature, has none of
the elements of the great man that characterized
Li Hung-chang and Chang Chih-tung, or Prince
Kung, but he has always been characterized by
that diplomacy which has kept him one of the
most useful officials in close connection with the
Empress Dowager. It is to his credit moreover
that the legations were preserved from the Box-
ers in the siege of 1900.

Prince Su is the only one of the eight heredi-

Chinese Princes and Officials 307

tary princes who holds any office that brings
him into intimate contact with the foreigners.
During the Boxer siege he gave his palace
for the use of the native Christians, and at the
close was made collector of the customs duties
(octoroi) at the city gates. Never had there
been any one in charge of this post who turned
in as large proportion of the total collections
as he. This excited the jealousy of the other
officials, and they said to each other: “If Prince
Su is allowed to hold this position for any
length of time there will never be anything in it
for any one else.” They therefore sought for a
ground of accusation, and they found it, in the
eyes of the conservatives, in the fact that he rode
in a foreign carriage, built himself a house after
the foreign style of architecture, furnished it with
foreign furniture, employed an Englishman to
teach his boys, and as we have seen opened a
school for the women and girls of his family.
He therefore lost his position, but it is to the
credit of Prince Chiin, the new Regent, and his
progressive policy, that Prince Su has been made
chief of the naval department, of which Prince
Ching is only an adviser.

The most important person among either
princes or officials that has been connected with
the new regime is Yuan Shih-kai. He was born
in the province of Honan, that province south of
the Yellow River which is almost annually

308 Court Life in China

flooded by that great muddy stream which is
called “ China’s Sorrow.” As a boy he was a
diligent student of the Chinese classics and of
such foreign books as had been translated into
the Chinese language, but he has never studied
a foreign tongue nor visited a foreign country.
Here then rests the first element of his greatness
— that without any knowledge of foreign lan-
guage, foreign law, foreign literature, science of
government, or the history of progress and of
civilization, he has occupied the highest and most
responsible positions in the gift of the empire,
has steered the ship of state on a straight course
between the shoals of conservatism on the one
hand and radical reform on the other until he
has brought her near to the harbour of a safe
progressive policy.

He has always been what the Chinese call the
tu-ti or pupil of Li Hung-chang, and it may be
that it was from him he learned his statecraft.
Certain it is that he always basked in the fa-
vour of the great Viceroy, and it may be that he
had more or less influence with him in his earlier
appointments, for he rose rapidly and in spite of
all other officials.

On his return from Korea he was made a
judge. He was then put in charge of the army
of the metropolitan province, and with the as-
sistance of German officers he succeeded in
drilling 12,500 troops after the European fashion.

Chinese Princes and Officials 309

It was about this time that the Emperor con-
ceived the plan of instituting and carrying out
one of the most stupendous reforms that has
ever been undertaken in human government —
that of transforming four thousand years of con-
servatism of four hundred millions of people in
the short space of a few months.

Given : A people who cannot make a nail, to
build a railroad.

Given ; A people who dare not plow a deep
furrow for fear of disturbing the spirits of the
place, to open gold, silver, iron and coal mines.

Given : A people who in 4,000 years did not
have the genius to develop a decent high school,
to open a university in the capital of every
province.

These are three of the score or more of equally
difficult problems that the Emperor undertook to
solve in twice as many days. In order to the
solution of these problems there was organized
in Peking a Reform Party of hot-headed, radical
young scholars not one of whom has ever turned
out to be a statesman. They were brilliant young
men, many of them, but they so lost their heads
in their enthusiasm for reform that they forgot
that their government was in the hands of the
same old conservative leaders under whom it
had been for forty centuries.

They introduced into the palace as the private
adviser of the Emperor, Kang Yu-wei, as we

310

Court Life in China

have already shown, to whom was thus offered
one of the greatest opportunities that was ever
given to a human being — that of being the leader
in this great reform. He was hailed as a young
Confucius, but his popularity was short-lived, for
he so lacked all statesmanship as to allow the
young Emperor to issue twenty-seven edicts, dis-
posing of twenty-seven difficult problems such as
I have given above in about twice that many
days, and it is this hot-headed and unstatesman-
like young “ Confucius ” who now calls Yuan
Shih-kai an opportunist and a traitor because he
did not enter into the following plot.

After the Emperor had dismissed two conserv-
ative vice-presidents of a Board, two governors
of provinces, and a half dozen other useless con-
servative leaders, they plotted to overthrow him
by appealing to the ambition of the Empress
Dowager and induce her to dethrone him and
again assume the reins of government. They
argued that “ he was her adopted son, it was she
who had placed him on the throne, and she was
therefore responsible for his mistakes.” They
complimented her on “ the wisdom which she
had manifested, and the statesmanship she had
exhibited ” during the thirty years and more of
her regency. To all which she listened with a
greedy ear, but still she made no move.

During this time were the Emperor and his
young “ Confucius ” idle? By no means. They

Chinese Princes and Officials 311

had hatched a counterplot, and had decided that
what they could not do by moral suasion and
statesmanship they v/ould do by force, and so
they sent an order to Yuan Shih-kai, who as we
have said had drilled and was in charge of 12,500
of the best troops in the empire, urging him to
“ hasten to the capital at once, place the Empress
Dowager under guard in the Summer Palace so
that she may not be allowed to interfere in the
affairs of the government, and protect him in his
reform measures.”

The Emperor knew that nothing could be
done without the command of the army which
was largely in the hands of a great conservative
friend of the Empress Dowager (Jung Lu) the
father-in-law of the present Regent. Yuan was
in charge of an army corps of 12,500 troops, but
for him to have taken them even at the command
of the Emperor, without informing his superior
officer, would have meant the loss of his head at
once. The first thing then for him to do was to
take this order to Jung Lu. Yuan was in favour
of reform, though he may not have approved of
the Emperor’s methods. Jung Lu hastened to
Prince Ching and they two sped to the Empress
Dowager in the Summer Palace where they laid
the whole matter before her. She hurried to
Peking, boldly faced and denounced the Emperor,
took from him his seal of state, and confined him
a prisoner in the Winter Palace. Kang Yu-wei,

312

Court Life in China

the young “ Confucius,” fled, but the Empress
Dowager seized his brother and five other patri-
otic young reformers, and ordered them beheaded
on the public execution grounds in Peking.

Naturally the Empress Dowager approved of
the “ wise and statesmanlike methods ” of Yuan
in thus protecting instead of imprisoning her,
and thus placing the reins of government once
more in her hands, and she appointed him Junior
Vice-President of the Board of Works, and when
she was compelled to remove the Governor of
Shantung who had organized the Boxer Society,
she appointed Y uan Acting Governor in his stead.
“Yuan,” says Arthur H. Smith, was “ a man of
a wholly different stripe ” from the one removed,
and “ if left to himself he would speedily have
exterminated the whole Boxer brood, but being
hampered by ‘ confidential instructions ’ from the
palace, he could do little but issue poetical proc-
lamations, and revile his subordinates for failure
to do their duty.”

When Yuan was made Governor of Shantung
a number of the Boxer leaders called upon him
expecting to find in him a sympathizer worthy of
his predecessor. They told him of their great
powers and possibilities, and of how they were
proof against the spears, swords and bullets of
their enemies. Yuan listened to them with pa-
tience and interest, and invited them to dine with
him and other official friends in the near future.

Chinese Princes and Officials 313

During the dinner the Governor directed the
conversation towards the Boxer leaders and their
prowess, and led them once more to relate to
all his friends their powers of resistance. He fed
them well, and after the dinner was over he sug-
gested that they give an exhibition of their
wonderful powers to the friends whom he had in-
vited. This they could not well refuse to do after
the braggadocio way in which they had talked,
and so the Governor lined them up, called forth a
number of his best marksmen, and proceeded
with the exhibition, and it is unnecessary to add
that if the Empress Dowager had invited Yuan
to the meeting with the princes when they dis-
cussed the advisability of joining the Boxers on
account of a belief in their supernatural powers,
she might have been spared the humiliation of
1900.

We shall soon see that Yuan cared no more
for the “ confidential instructions ” of the Empress
Dowager, when his statesmanship was involved,
than for the orders of the Emperor. His business
was to govern and protect the people of his
province, and thanks to his wise statesmanship
and strong character “there was not only no
foreigner killed during the troubled season of
anxiety and flight” of 1900, and “comparatively
little of the suffering elsewhere so common.”

And now we come to another plot which in-
dicates the character of Yuan and two other

314 Court Life in China

great viceroys, Chang Chih-tung, now Grand
Secretary, and Liu Kun-yi, Viceroy of the Yang-
tse-kiang provinces. It is a well-known fact
that during the Boxer rebellion the Empress
Dowager was so influenced by the promises of
the Boxers to drive out all the foreigners that she
sent out some very unwise edicts that they should
be massacred in the provinces. Yuan and his
two confreres secretly stipulated that if the
foreign men of war would keep away from the
ports of their provinces they would maintain
peace and protect the foreigners no matter what
orders came from the throne. So that when
these confidential instructions came from the
palace to massacre the foreigners, in order to
gain time they pretended to believe that no such
orders could have come from the throne. They
must be forgeries of the Boxers. They therefore
refused to believe them until they had sent their
own special messenger all the way to Peking to
get the edict from the hands of Her Majesty and
bring it to them in their provinces. This mes-
senger was also secretly instructed to find out
what the contents of the edict were, and if it was
contrary to the desires of the Governor, he was
to dilly-dally on the way home until the Boxer
trouble was ended or until the foreigners had all
been removed from the territory. And it was
such conduct as this on the part of three Chinese
and one Manchu viceroys that saved China from

Chinese Princes and Officials 315

being divided up among the Powers in 1900, a
fact which the Empress Dowager was not slow
to understand and reward.

In 1900 Yuan was made Governor of the
Shantung province, and the court was compelled
to flee to Hsian. It was while the court was thus
in hiding that an incident occurred which in-
dicates the fertility of the Empress Dowager and
the elasticity of all Chinese social customs.
Governor Yuan’s mother died. In a case of this
kind customs dictate, and the rules of filial affec-
tion demand, that a man shall resign all his offi-
cial positions and go into mourning for a period
of three years. Y uan therefore sent his resigna-
tion to the Empress Dowager, while “ weeping
tears of blood.”

The country was of course in desperate straits
and could ill afford to lose, for three years, for a
mere sentiment, the services of one of her great-
est and most powerful statesmen. However
much he may have regretted to give up such a
brilliant career which was just well begun. Yuan
no doubt expected to do so. What was his sur-
prise therefore to receive from Her Majesty a
message of condolence in which she praised his
mother in the highest terms for having given the
world such a brilliant and able son. Under
the circumstances, however, it would be impossible
to accept his resignation as his services to the
country just at this juncture were indispensable.

Court Life in China

316

She would, however, appoint a substitute to go
into mourning for him, and this with the knowl-
edge that she had borne a son whose services were
so necessary to the safety of the government and
the country, would be a sufficient comfort to the
spirit of his departed mother, and Yuan was
forced to continue in his official position as
Governor of the province without the intermis-
sion of a single day of mourning. Such is the
elasticity and adaptability of the unchanging
laws and customs of the Oriental when in the
hands of a master — or a mistress — like Her
Majesty the Empress Dowager.

One can imagine that in proportion as the Em-
press Dowager was pleased with the statesman-
ship manifested by Yuan Shih-kai in uninten-
tionally reseating her upon the throne, in a like
proportion the Emperor would be dissatisfied
with it as being the cause of his dethronement
This was not, however, against Yuan alone but
against the father-in-law of the present Regent
and even Prince Ching as well. During the
whole ten years, from 1898 until his death, while
he was a prisoner “his heart boiled with wrath ”
against those who had been the cause of his
downfall.

It was not until the Boxer troubles of 1900
were over, and Yuan, by the masterly way in
which he had disregarded the imperial edicts,
had protected and preserved the lives of all the

Chinese Princes and Officials 317

foreigners in his province, keeping peace the
while, that honours began to be heaped upon
him. And this not without reason as we shall
proceed to show.

In 1901 he was made Governor-General of the
metropolitan province, and Junior Guardian of
the Heir Apparent. In 1902 he was decorated
with the Yellow Jacket, placed in charge of the
affairs of the Northern Railw'ay, and consulting
minister to counsel the government. Wherever
he was he gave as much attention to the city
government as to that of the province or the na-
tion, and in spite of his having no foreign educa-
tion himself, he began building up a system of
public schools in his province like which there is
nothing else in the whole of China. Let us re-
member also that during all this time there was
suspended over his head, from the palace, a
sword of Damocles which was liable to fall at
any time. But we will explain that further on as
it is the last act of the drama.

When Yuan went to Tientsin as Viceroy of the
metropolitan province he found there Dr. C. D.
Tenny, the president of the Tientsin University
which had been begun by Li Hung-chang some
ten or a dozen years before. It had a good course
of study and was turning out a large number of
young graduates for whom there ought to be a
better future than that of interpreters in the va-
rious business houses of that and other cities. He

Court Life in China

318

therefore called Dr. Tenny to him and inquired
particularly about the system of public school edu-
cation throughout the United States.

“ What is to prevent our putting into operation
such a system throughout this province ? ” asked
the Viceroy.

“ Nothing,” answered Dr. Tenny, “ except to be
willing to submit to the conditions.”

“ And what are those conditions ? ” asked His
Excellency.

“ They are that you open schools in every im-
portant town, place in them well-educated, com-
petent teachers, whom you are willing to pay a
salary equal to what they may reasonably expect
to get if they enter business.”

“ May I ask if you would be willing to under-
take the development of such a system?” he
asked further.

“ On one condition,” answered Dr. Tenny.

“ And what is that? ”

“ That you allow me to open a school wherever
I think there should be one, call my teachers
from whatsoever source I please to call them, pay
them whatever salary I think they deserve, send-
ing all the bills to Your Excellency, and you pay
them without question.”

The Viceroy had known Dr. Tenny for years,
had always had the most implicit confidence both
in his ability and his honesty, and so, lightening
up his duties in the Tientsin and Paotingfu Uni-

Chinese Princes and Officials

319

versifies, he commissioned him to establish what
may be termed the first public school system of
education on modern lines in the whole empire.
This one act, if he had done no other, was reason
enough for a wise regent to have continued him
in office even though he “ had rheumatism of the
leg.” But it may be that there are extenuating
circumstances in this act of the Regent as we
shall point out later.

There is one phase of the Boxer uprising that
I have never yet seen properly represented in
any book or magazine. We all know how the
ministers of the various European governments
with their wives and children, the customs of-
ficials, missionaries, business men, and tourists
who happened to be in Peking at the time, with
all the Chinese Christians, were confined in the
British legation and Prince Su’s palace. We
know how they barricaded their defense. We
know how they were fired upon day and night
for six weeks by the Boxer leaders and the army
of the conservatives under the leadership of their
general, Tung Fu-hsiang. But the thing which
we do not know, or at least which has not been
adequately told, is the most interesting secret
plot of the liberal progressives, under the leader-
ship of “ Prince Ching and others,” to thwart the
Empress Dowager and the Boxer leaders, the
conservatives and their army, and protect the
most noted company of prisoners that have ever

320

Court Life in China

been confined in a legation quarter. The plot
was this :

When Prince Ching and his progressive as-
sociates in Peking discovered that they could not
vote down the Boxer princes, they dared not
openly oppose them, but they secretly decided
that the representatives of the Powers must not
be massacred else the doom of China was sealed.
When they discovered that Yuan Shih-kai
and the other great viceroys had decided by
stratagem to foil the Boxers even though
they must set all the imperial edicts at naught,
they decided, for the sake of the protection of
the legations and the preservation of the empire,
that they would do the same. They secretly
sent supplies of food to the besieged, which the
latter feared to use lest they be poisoned. But
more than that they kept their own armies in
Peking as a guard and as a final resort in case
there was danger of the legation being over-
come, and as a matter of fact there were regular
pitched battles between the troops of Prince
Ching and his associates and those of the Boxer
leader, Tung Fu-hsiang. Had the Boxers finally
succeeded. Yuan Shih-kai and Prince Ching and
their associates would have lost their heads, but
as the Boxers failed it was they who went to
their graves by the short process of the execu-
tioner’s knife.

So Yuan was between two fires. He had dis-

Chinese Princes and Officials 321

obeyed the commands of the Emperor in not
coming to Peking and had therefore incurred his
displeasure and caused his downfall. He had
disobeyed the Empress Dowager in not putting
to death the foreigners in his province, and if
the Boxers were successful he would surely lose
his head on that account. The Boxers, however,
were not successful and as his disobedience had
helped to save the empire. Yuan, so long as the
Dowager remained in power, was safe.

But a day of reckoning must inevitably come.
The Empress Dowager was an old woman, the
Emperor was a young man. In all human
probabilities she would be the first to die, while
his only hope was in her outliving the Emperor,
who had sworn vengeance on all those who had
been instrumental in his imprisonment.

I have a friend in Peking who is also a friend
of one of the greatest Chinese officials. This
official has gone into the palace daily for a
dozen years past and knows every plot and
counterplot that has been hatched in that nest of
seclusion during all that time, though he has
been implicated in none of them. He has held
the highest positions in the gift of the empire
without ever once having been degraded. One
day when he was in the palace the Emperor un-
burdened his heart to him, thinking that what
he said would never reach the ears of his

enemies.

322

Court Life in China

“ You have no idea,” said the Emperor,
“ what I suffer here.”

“ Indeed ? ” was the only reply of the official.

“Yes,” continued the Emperor, “I am not al-
lowed to speak to any one from outside. I am
without power, without companions, and even
the eunuchs act as though they are under no
obligations to respect me. The position of the
lowest servant in the palace is more desirable
than mine.” Then lowering his voice he con-
tinued, “ But there is a day of reckoning to
come. The Empress Dowager cannot live for-
ever, and if ever I get my throne again I will
see to it that those who put me here will suffer
as I have done.”

It is not unlikely that this conversation of the
Emperor reached the ears of Yuan Shih-kai.
Walls have ears in China. Everything has ears,
and every part of nature has a tongue. If so,
here was the occasion for the last plot in the
drama of the Emperor’s life, and next to the last
in the official life of Yuan Shih-kai.

The problem is to so manipulate the laws of
nature as to prevent the Emperor outliving the
Empress Dowager, and not allow the world to
know that you have been trifling with occult
forces. He must die a natural death, a death
which is above suspicion. He must not die one
day after the Empress Dowager as that would
create talk. And he ought to die some time be-

Chinese Princes and Officials 323

fore her. The death fuse is one which often
bums very much longer than we expect —
was it not one of the English kings who said “ I
fear I am a very long time a-dying, gentlemen ”
— and sometimes it burns out sooner than is in-
tended. There were two imperial death fuses
burning at the same time in that Forbidden City
of Peking. The Empress Dowager had “ had a
stroke.” Hers was undoubtedly nature’s own
work. But the enemies of Yuan Shih-kai tell us
that the Emperor had “ had a Chinese doctor,”
to whom the great Viceroy paid ^33,000 for his
services. We are told that the Empress Dowager
in reality died first and then the Emperor, though
the Emperor’s death was first announced, and the
next day that of the Dowager.

What then are we to infer? That the Em-
peror was poisoned ? Let it be so. That is
what the Japanese believed at the time. But
who did it ? Most assuredly no one man. One
might have employed a Chinese physician for
him, but the last man whose physician the Em-
peror would have accepted would have been
Yuan Shih-kai’s. Had you or I been ill would
we have allowed the man who was the cause of
our fall to select our physician ? But granted
that Yuan Shih-kai did employ his physician,
and that his death was the result of slow poison-
ing, could Yuan Shih-kai have so manipulated
Prince Ching, the Regent (who is the late Em-

3^4

Court Life in China

peror’s brother), the ladies of the court, and
all those thousands of eunuchs, to remain silent
as to the death of the Empress Dowager until he
had completed the slow process on His Majesty ?
No ! If the Emperor was poisoned — and the
world believes he was — there are a number of
others whose skirts are as badly stained as those
of the great Viceroy, or long ere this his body
would have been sent home a headless corpse
instead of with “ rheumatism of the leg.”

What then is the explanation ? It may be this,
that the court, and the officials as a whole, felt
that the Emperor was an unsafe person to resume
the throne, and that it were better that one man
should perish than that the whole regime should
be upset. They even refused to allow a foreign
physician to go in to see him, saying that of his
own free will he had turned again to the Chinese,
all of which indicates that it was not the plot of
any one man.

Why then should Yuan Shih-kai have been
made the scapegoat of the court and the of-
ficials, and branded as a murderer in the face of
the whole world ? That may be another plot.
The radical reformers, followers of Kang Yu-wei,
have been making such a hubbub about the
matter ever since the death of the Emperor and
the Empress Dowager that somebody had to be
punished. They said that Yuan had been a
traitor to the cause of reform, that he had not

Chinese Princes and Officials 325

only betrayed his sovereign in 1898, but that now
he had encompassed his death.

Now to satisfy these enemies, the Prince
Regent may have decided that the best thing to
do was to dismiss Yuan for a time. I think
that the trivial excuse he gives for doing so
favours my theory — with “ rheumatism of the
leg,” to which is added, “ Thus our clemency
is manifest ” — a sentence which may be severe or
may mean nothing, and when the storm has blown
over and the sky is clear again. Yuan may be
once more brought to the front as Li Hung-
chang and others have been in the past.
Which is a consummation, I think, devoutly to be
wished.

XX

Peking — The City of the Court

The position of Peking at the present time is one of pe-
culiar interest, for all the different forces that are now at
work to make or mar China issue from, or converge to-
wards, the capital. There, on the dragon throne, be-
side, or rather above, the powerless and unhappy Emperor,
the father of his people and their god, sits the astute and
ever-watchful lady whose word is law to Emperor, minister
and clown alike. There dwell the heads of the govern-
ment boards, the leaders of the Manchu aristocracy, and
the great political parties, the drafters of new constitutions
and imperial decrees, and the keen-witted diplomatists
who know so well how to play against European antag-
onists the great game of international chess.

— R. F. Johnston in ''From Peking to MandelayF

XX

PEKING— THE CITY OF THE COURT

IN the place where Peking now stands there
has been a city for three thousand years.
Five centuries before Christ it was the
capital of a small state, but was destroyed three
centuries later by the builder of the great w^all.
It was soon rebuilt, however, and has continued
from that time until the present, with varied
fortunes, as the capital of a state, the chief city of
a department, or the dwelling-place of the court.

It is the greatest and best preserved walled
city in the empire, if not in the world. The
Tartar City is sixteen miles in circumference, sur-
rounded by a wall sixty feet thick at the bottom,
fifty feet thick at the top and forty feet high, with
six feet of balustrade on the outside, beautifully
crenelated and loopholed, and in a good state
of preservation. The streets are sixty feet wide, —
or even more in places, — well macadamized, and
lit with electric light. The chief mode of con-
veyance is the ’ricksha, though carriages may
be hired by the week, day or hour at various
livery stables in proximity to the hotels, which,
by the way, furnish as good accommodation to
their guests as the hotels of other Oriental cities.

329

330

Court Life in China

In the centre of the Tartar City is the Imperial
City, eight miles in circumference, encircled by a
wall six feet thick and fifteen feet high, pierced
by four gates at the points of the compass ; and
in the centre of this again is the Forbidden City,
occupying less than half a square mile, the home
of the court.

Fairs are held, at various temples, fourteen
days of every month, distributed in such a way
as to bring them almost on alternate days, while
at certain times there are two fairs on the same
day. It is a mistake to suppose that the Chinese
women in the capital are very much secluded.
They may be seen on the streets at almost any
time, while the temple courts and adjacent
streets, on fair days, are crowded with women
and girls, dressed in the most gorgeous colours,
their hair decorated with all kinds of artificial
flowers, followed by little boys and girls as gaily
dressed as themselves. Here they find all kinds
of toys, curios, and articles of general use, from
a top to a broom, from bits of jade or other pre-
cious stones, to a snuff bottle hollowed out of a
solid quartz crystal, or a market basket or a
dust-pan made of reeds.

Peking being the city of the court, and the
headquarters of many of the greatest officials, is
the receptacle of the finest products of the oldest
and greatest non-Christian people the world has
ever known. China easily leads the world in

HATAMEN STREET BEFORE MACADAMIZING

Peking — The City of the Court 331

the making of porcelain, the best of which has
always gone to Peking for use in the palace, and
so we can find here the best products of every
reign from the time of Kang Hsi, as well as those
of the former dynasties, to that of Kuang Hsu and
the Empress Dowager. The same is true of her
brass and bronze incense-burners and images,
her wood and ivory carvings, her beautiful em-
broideries, her magnificent tapestries, and her
paintings by old masters of six or eight hundred
years ago. Here we can find the finest Oriental
rugs, in a good state of preservation, with the
“ tone ” that only age can give, made long be-
fore the time of Washington.

There is no better market for fine bits of em-
broidery, mandarin coats, and all the better
products of needle, silk and floss, of which the
Chinese have been masters for centuries, than the
city of the court. The population consists largely
of great officials and their families, whose cast-
off clothing, toned down by the use of years,
often without a blemish or a spot, finds its way
into the hands of dealers. The finest furs, — seal,
otter, squirrel, sable and ermine, — are brought
from Siberia, Manchuria and elsewhere, for the
officials and the court, and can be secured for
less than half what they would cost in America.
Pearls, of which the Chinese ladies and the court
are more fond than of diamonds, may be found
in abundance in all the bazars, which are many,

332 Court Life in China

and judging from the way they are purchased
by tourists, are both cheaper and better than
elsewhere.

The Chinese have little appreciation of dia-
monds as jewelry. On one occasion there was
offered to me a beautiful ring containing a large
sapphire encircled by twenty diamonds. When I
offered the dealer less than he asked for it, he
said ; “No, rather than sell it for that price, I
will tear it apart, and sell the diamonds sepa-
rately for drill-points to the tinkers who mend
dishes. I can make more from it in that
way, only I dislike to spoil the ring.” The
Empress Dowager during her late years, and
many of the ladies and gentlemen of the more
progressive type, affected, whether genuinely or
not, an appreciation of the diamond as a piece
of jewelry, especially in the form of rings,
though coloured stones, polished, but not cut,
have always been more popular with the Chinese.
The turquoise, the emerald, the sapphire, the ruby
and the other precious stones with colour have,
therefore, always graced the tables of the bazars
in the capital, while the diamond until very re-
cently was relegated to the point of the tinker’s
drill.

There is another method of bringing bits of
their ancient handiwork to the capital which
most of those living in Peking, even, know noth-
ing about. A company, whose headquarters is

Peking — The City of the Court 333

at an inn, called the Hsing Lung Tien, sends
agents all over the empire, to purchase and
bring to them everything in the nature of a curio,
whether porcelain, painting, embroidery, pottery
or even an ancient tile or inkstone, which they
then, at public auction, sell to the dealers. The
sale is at noon each day. The first time I visited
it was with a friend from Iowa who was anxious
to get some unique bits of porcelain. The auc-
tioneer does not “ cry ” the wares. Neither
buyer nor seller says a word. Nobody knows
what anybody else has offered. The goods are
passed out of a closed room from a high window
where the crowd can see them, and then each
one wanting them tries to be first in securing the
hand of the auctioneer, which is ensconced in
his long sleeve, where, by squeezing his fingers,
they tell him how much they will give for the
particular piece. It is the only real case of
“ talking in the sleeve ” I have ever seen, and
each piece is sold to the first person offering a
fair profit on the money invested, though he
might get much more by allowing them to bid
against each other.

Among the attractive sights in Peking, none
are quite so interesting as the places where His
Majesty worships, and of these the most beauti-
ful in architecture, the grandest in conception,
and the one laid out on the most magnificent
scale, is the Temple of Heaven.

334

Court Life in China

Think of six hundred and forty acres of valuable
city property being set aside for the grounds of
a single temple, as compared with the way our
own great churches are crowded into small city
lots of scarcely as many square feet, and over-
shadowed by great business blocks costing a
hundred times as much, and we can get some
conception of the magnificence of the scale on
which this temple is laid out. A large part of
the grounds is covered with cedars, many of
which are not less than five hundred years old,
while other parts are used to pasture a flock of
black cattle from which they select the sacrifice
for a burnt offering. The grounds are not well
kept like those of our own parks and churches,
but the original conception of a temple on such a
large scale is worthy of a great people.

The worship at this temple is the most impor-
tant of all the religious observances of the em-
pire, and constitutes a most interesting remnant
of the ancient monotheistic cultus which pre-
vailed in China before the rationalism of Confu-
cius and the polytheistic superstition of Buddhism
predominated among the people. While the
ceremonies of the sacrifices are very complicated,
they are kept with the strictest severity. The
chief of these is at the winter solstice. On De-
cember 2 1 St the Emperor goes in a sedan chair,
covered with yellow silk, and carried by thirty-
two men, preceded by a band of musicians, and

Peking — The City of the Court 335

followed by an immense retinue of princes and
officials on horseback. He first goes to the tab-
let-chapel, where he offers incense to Shang Ti,
the God above, and to his ancestors, with three
kneelings and nine prostrations. Then going to
the great altar he inspects the offerings, after
which he repairs to the Palace of Abstinence,
where he spends the night in fasting and prayer.
The next morning at 5 : 45 A. M. he dons his sac-
rificial robes, proceeds to the open altar, where
he kneels and burns incense, offers a prayer to
Shang Ti, and incense to his ancestors whose
shrines and tablets are arranged on the northeast
and northwest portions of the altar.

There are two altars in the temple, a quarter
of a mile apart, the covered and the open altar,
and this latter is one of the grandest religious
conceptions of the human mind. It is a triple
circular marble terrace, 210 feet wide at the base,
150 feet in the middle, and ninety feet at the top,
ascended at the points of the compass by three
flights of nine steps each. A circular stone is in
the centre of the top, around which are nine
stones in the first circle, eighteen in the second,
twenty -seven in the third, etc., and eighty-one in
the ninth, or last circle. The Emperor kneels on
the circular stone, surrounded by the circles of
stones, then by the circles of the terraces, and fi-
nally by the horizon, and thus seems to himself
and his retinue to be in the centre of the universe.

336 Court Life in China

his only walls being the skies, and his only cov-
ering, the shining dome.

There are no images of any kind connected
with the temple or the worship, the only offerings
being a bullock, the various productions of the
soil, and a cylindrical piece of jade about a foot
long, formerly used as a symbol of sovereignty.
Twelve bundles of cloth are offered to Heaven,
and only one to each of the emperors, and to the
sun and moon. The bullocks must be two years
old, the best of their kind, without blemish, and
while they were formerly killed by the Emperor
they are now slaughtered by an official appointed
for that purpose.

The covered altar is, I think, the most beauti-
ful piece of architecture in China. It is smaller
than the one already described but has erected
upon it a lofty, circular triple-roofed temple
ninety-nine feet in height, roofed with blue tiles,
the eaves painted in brilliant colours and pro-
tected from the birds by a wire netting. In the
centre, immediately in front of the altar, is a cir-
cular stone, as in the open altar. The ceiling is
covered with gilded dragons in high relief, and
the whole is supported by immense pillars. It
was this building that was struck by lightning in
1890, but it was restored during the ten years
that followed. Being made the camp of the
British during the occupation of 1900, it received
some small injuries from curio seekers, but none

Peking — The City of the Court 337

of any consequence. The Sikh soldiers who died
during this period were cremated in the furnace
connected with the open altar.

The Chinese have been an agricultural people
for thirty centuries or more, and this character-
istic is embodied in the Temple of Agriculture,
w'hich occupies a park of not less than three hun-
dred and twenty acres of city property opposite
the Temple of Heaven. It has four great altars,
with their adjacent halls, to the spirits of Heaven,
Earth, the Year, and the Ancestral Husbandman,
Shen Nung, to whom the temple is dedicated.
It was used as the camp of the American soldiers
in 1900, and was well cared for. At one time
some of the soldiers upset one of the urns, and
when it was reported to the officer in command,
the whole company was called out and the urn
properly replaced, after which the men were lec-
tured on the matter of injuring any property be-
longing to the temple.

There are several large plots of ground in this
enclosure, one of which the Emperor ploughs,
while another is marked “ City Magistrate,” an-
other “ Prefect,” and on these bits of land the
“ five kinds of grain ” are sown. One cannot
view these imperial temples without being im-
pressed with the potential greatness of a people
who do things on such a magnificent scale. But
one, at the same time, also feels that these
temples, and the great Oriental religions which

338 Court Life in China

inspire and support them have failed in a meas-
ure to accomplish their design, which ought to
be to educate and develop the people. This
they can hardly be said to have done, especially
if we consider their condition in their lack of
all phases of scientific development, for as the
sciences stand to-day they are all the product of
the Christian peoples.

There are three other imperial temples on the
same large scale as those just described. The
Temple of the Sun east of the city, that of the
Moon on the west, and that of the Earth on the
north, though it must be confessed that the
worship at these has been allowed to lapse. In
the Tartar City there are two others, the
Lama Temple and the Confucian Temple, in
the former of which there is a statue of Buddha
seventy-five feet high, and from thirteen to fifteen
hundred priests who worship daily at his shrine.
This statue is made of stucco, over a framework,
and not of wood as some have told us, and as
the guide will assure us at the present day. One
can ascend to a level with its head by several
flights of stairs, where a lamp is lit when the
Emperor visits the temple. In the east wing of
this same building is a prayer-wheel, which
reaches up through several successive stories,
and is kept in motion while the Emperor is
present.

In the east side buildings there are a few in-

Peking — The City of the Court 339

teresting, though in some cases very disgusting
idols, such for instance as those illustrating the
creation, but over these draperies have been
thrown during recent years, which make them a
trifle more respectable.

The temple is very imposing. At the entrance
there are two large arches covered with yellow
tiles, from which a broad paved court leads to
the front gate, on the two sides of which are the
residences of the Lamas or Mongol priests. At
the hour of prayer, which is about nine o’clock,
they may be seen going in crowds, clothed in
yellow robes, to the various halls of worship
where they chant their prayers.

Very different from this is the Confucian
Temple only a quarter of a mile away. Here
we find neither priest nor idol — nothing but a
small board tablet to “ Confucius, the teacher of
ten thousand ages ” with those of his most faith-
ful and worthy disciples. In the court on each
side are rows of buildings — that on the east con-
taining the tablets of seventy-eight virtuous men ;
that on the west the tablets of fifty-four learned
men ; eighty-six of these were pupils of the Sage,
while the remainder were men who accepted his
teachings. No Taoists, however learned ; no
Buddhists, however pure ; no original thinkers,
however great may have been their following,
are allowed a place here. It is a Temple of
Fame for Confucianists alone.

340

Court Life in China

I have been in this temple when a whole bul-
lock, the skin and entrails having been removed,
was kneeling upon a table facing the tablet of
the Sage, while sheep and pigs were similarly-
arranged facing the tablets of his disciples.

For twenty-four centuries China has had
Taoism preached within her dominions ; for
twenty-three centuries she has worshipped at
the shrine of Confucius ; for eighteen centuries
she has had Buddhism, and for twelve centuries
Mohammedanism : and during all this time if we
believe the statements of her own people, she has
slept. Does it not therefore seem significant,
that less than a century after the Gospel of Jesus
Christ had been preached to her people, and the
Bible circulated freely throughout her dominions,
she opened her court to the world, began to build
railroads, open mines, erect educational institu-
tions, adopt the telegraph and the telephone, and
step into line with the industrial methods of the
most progressive nations of the Western world ?

HATAMEN STREET AS IT IS TODAY

XXI

The Death of Kuang Hsii and the
Empress Dowager

Who ^knows whether the Dowager Empress will ever re-
pose in the magnificent tomb she has built for herself at
such a cost, or whether a new dynasty may not rifle its
riches to embellish its own ? T ze-Hsi is growing old !
According to nature’s immutable law her faculties must
soon fail her ; her iron will must bend and her far-seeing
eye grow dim, and after her who will resist the tide of
foreign aggression and stem the torrent of inward revolt ?

— Lady Susan Townley in “ My Chinese Note Book."

XXI

THE DEATH OF KUANG HSU AND THE
EMPRESS DOWAGER

During mid-November of 1908 the For-
bidden City of Peking was a blind stage
before which an expectant world sat as
an audience. It had not long to wait, for on the
fifteenth and sixteenth it learned that Kuang Hsii
and the Empress Dowager, less than twenty-four
hours apart, had taken “ the fairy ride and as-
cended upon the dragon to be guests on high.”
The world looked on in awe. It expected a dem-
onstration if not a revolution but nothing of the
kind happened. But on the other hand one of
the most difficult diplomatic problems of her
history was solved in a quiet and peaceable, if
not a statesmanlike way, by the aged Dowager
and her officials, and China once more had upon
her throne an emperor, though only a child, about
whose succession there was no question. And
all this was done with less commotion than is
caused by the election of a mayor in New York
or Chicago, which may or may not be to the
credit of an absolute monarchy over a republican
form of government.

343

344

Court Life in China

The world has speculated a good deal as to
what happened in the Forbidden City of Peking
during the early half of November. Will the
curious world ever know ? Whether it will or
not remains for the future to determine. We
have, however, the edicts issued to the foreign
legations at Peking and with these at the present
we must be content. From them we learn that
it was the Empress Dowager and not Kuang
Hsii who appointed Prince Chiin as Regent, and
that this appointment was made — or at least an-
nounced— twenty-four hours before the death of
the Emperor.

On the thirteenth of November the foreign
diplomatic representatives received the following
edict from the great Dowager through the
regular channel of the Foreign Office of which
Prince Ching was the president :

“ It is the excellent will of Tze-hsi-kuan-yu-
k’ang- i-chao-yu-chuang-ch’eng-shou-kung-ch’in-
hsien-chung-hsi, the great Empress Dowager,
that Tsai Feng, Prince of Chiin, be appointed
Prince Regent {She Chang-wang)."

The above edict was soon followed by another
which stated that “ Pu I, the son of Tsai Feng,
should be reared in the palace and taught in the
imperial schoolroom,” an indication that he was to
be the next emperor, and that Tsai Feng and not

345

The Death of Kuang Hsu

Kuang Hsii was to occupy the throne, and all this
by the “ excellent will ” of the Empress Dowager.

On the morning of the fourteenth the following
edict came from the Emperor himself ;

“ From the beginning of August of last year,
our health has been poor. We formerly ordered
the Tartar generals, viceroys, and governors of
every province to recommend physicians of
ability. Thereupon the viceroys of Chihli, the
Liang Kiang, Hu Kiang, Kiangsu and Chekiang
recommended and sent forward Chen Ping-chun,
Tsao Yuen- wan g, Lu Yung-ping, Chow Ching-
tao, Tu Chung-chun, Shih Huan, and Chang
Pang-nien, who came to Peking and treated us.
But their prescriptions have given no relief. Now
the negative and positive elements (Yin-Yang)
are both failing. There are ailments both exter-
nal and internal, and the breath is stopped up,
the stomach rebellious, the back and legs pain-
ful, appetite failing. On moving, the breath
fails and there is coughing and panting. Be-
sides, we have chills and fever, cannot sleep, and
experience a general failure of bodily strength
which is hard to bear.

“ Our heart is very impatient and now the
Tartar generals, viceroys, and governors of
every province are ordered to select capable
physicians, regardless of the official rank, and to
send them quickly to Peking to await summons
to give medical aid. If any can show beneficial

Court Life in China

346

results he will receive extraordinary rewards, and
the Tartar generals, viceroys, and governors
who recommend them will receive special grace.
Let this be published.”

This was followed on the same day by the fol-
lowing edict :

“ Inasmuch as the Emperor Tung Chih had
no issue, on the fifth day of the twelfth moon of
that reign (January 12, 1875) an edict was pro-
mulgated to the effect that if the late Emperor
Kuang Hsii should have a son, the said prince
should carry on the succession as the heir of
Tung Chih. But now the late Emperor has
ascended upon the dragon to be a guest on
high, leaving no son, and there is no course
open but to appoint Pu I, the son of Tsai Feng,
the Prince Regent, as the successor to Tung
Chih and also as heir to the Emperor Kuang
Hsii.”

The next day — the fifteenth — another edict,
purporting to come from little Pu I, but tran-
scribed by Prince Ching, was sent out to the
diplomatic body and to the world. It is as fol-
lows :

“ I have the honour to inform Your Excellency
that on the 21st day of the loth moon [Nov. 14,
1908] at [5:7?. M.] the late Emperor

ascended on the dragon to be a guest on high.
We have received the command of Tze-hsi, etc.,
the Great Empress Dowager to enter on the sue-

PRINCE CHUN WITH THE EMPEROR PU I
ON HIS LEFT

347

The Death of Kuang Hsii

cession as Emperor. We lamented to Earth
and Heaven. We stretched out our hands,
wailing our insufficiency. Prostrate we reflect
on how the late Emperor occupied the Imperial
Throne for thirty-four years, reverently following
the customs of his ancestors, receiving the
gracious instruction of the Empress Dowager,
exerting himself to the utmost, not failing one
day to revere Heaven and observe the laws of
his ancestors, devoting himself with diligence to
the affairs of government and loving the people,
appointing the virtuous to office, changing the
laws of the land to make the country power-
ful, considering new methods of government
which arouse the admiration of both Chinese
and foreigners. All who have blood and breath
cannot but mourn and be moved to the extreme
point. We weep tears of blood and beat upon
our heart. How can we bear to express our
feelings !

“ But we think upon our heavy responsibility
and our weakness, and we must depend upon
the great and small civil and military officials of
Peking and the provinces to show public spirit
and patriotism, and aid in the government. The
viceroys and governors should harmonize the
people and arrange carefully methods of govern-
ment to comfort the spirit of the late Emperor in
heaven. This is our earnest expectation.”

On the sixteenth day of November, three days

Court Life in China

348

after she had appointed the regent, and two days
after she had appointed Pu I, the diplomatic rep-
resentatives received the following from Prince
Ching :

“ Your Excellency :

“ I have the honour to inform Your Excellency
that we have reverently received the following
testamentary statement of Her Imperial Majesty
Tze-hsi, etc., the Great Empress Dowager:

“ ‘ Although of scanty merit, I received the
command of His Majesty the Emperor Wen
Tsung-hsien (the posthumous title of Hsien Feng)
to occupy a throne prepared for me in the pal-
ace. When the Emperor Mu Tsung I (Tung
Chih) as a child succeeded to the throne, vio-
lence and confusion prevailed. It was a critical
period of suppression by force. “ Long-hairs ”
(Tai-ping rebels) and the “twisted turbans”
(Nien Fei) were in rebellion. The Moham-
medans and the aborigines had commenced to
make ti'ouble. There were many disturbances
along the seacoast. The people were destitute.
Ulcers and sores met the eye on every side.
Cooperating with the Empress Dowager Hsiao
Chen-hsien, I supported and taught the Em-
peror and toiled day and night. According to
the instructions contained in the testamentary
counsels of the Emperor Wen Tsung-hsien
(Hsien Feng) I urged on the officials of Peking
and the provinces and all the military com-

349

The Death of Kuang Hsu

manders, determining the policy to be followed,
diligently searching the right way of governing,
choosing the upright for official positions, res-
cuing from calamity and pitying the people, and
so obtained the protection of Heaven, gaining
peace and tranquillity instead of distress and
danger. Then the Emperor Mu Tsung I (Tung
Chih) departed this life and the late Emperor
succeeded to the throne. The times became
still harder and the people in still greater straits,
sorrow within and calamity without, confusion
and noise ; I had no recourse but to give instruc-
tion in government once more.

“ ‘ The year before last the preparatory meas-
ures for the institution of constitutional govern-
ment were published. This year the time limits
for the measures preparatory to constitutional
government have been promulgated. Attending
to these myriad affairs the strength of my heart
has been exhausted. Fortunately my constitu-
tion was originally strong and up to the present
I have stood the strain. Unexpectedly from the
summer and autumn of this year I have been ill
and have not been able to assist in the multi-
tudinous affairs of government with tranquillity.
Appetite and the power to sleep have gone.
This has continued for a long time until my
strength is exhausted and I have not dared to
rest for even a day. On the 21st of this moon
[November 14th] came the sorrow of the death

350

Court Life in China

of the late Emperor, and I was unable to control
myself, so that my illness increased till I was un-
able to rise from my bed. I look back upon our
fifty years of sorrow and trouble. I have been
continually in a state of high tension without a
moment’s respite. Now a reform in the method
of government has been commenced and there
begins to be a clue to follow. The Emperor now
succeeding to the throne is in his infancy. All
depends upon his instruction and guidance.
The Prince Regent and all the officials of Peking
and the provinces should exert themselves to
strengthen the foundations of our empire. Let
the Emperor now succeeding^ to the throne
make his country’s affairs of first importance and
moderate his sorrow, diligently attending to his
studies so that he may in future illustrate the in-
struction which he has received. This is my
devout hope. Let the mourning period be for
twenty-seven days only. Let this be proclaimed
to the empire that all may know.’ ”

Still one more edict was necessary to complete
this remarkable list, and this was sent to the
legations on the 17th of November. It is as
follows :

“ I have the honour to inform Your Excellency
that on the 22d of the moon [November 15, 1908]
I reverently received the following edict :

“ We received in our early childhood the love
and care of Tze-hsi, etc., the Great Empress

351

The Death of Kuang HsQ

Dowager. Our gratitude is boundless. We
have received the command to succeed to the
throne and we fully expected that the gentle
Empress Dowager would be vigorous and reach
a hundred years so that we might be cherished
and made glad and reverently receive her in-
structions so that our government might be
established and the state made firm. But her
toil by day and night gradually weakened her.
Medicine was constantly administered in the
hope that she might recover. Contrary to our
hopes, on the 21st day of the moon [November
14th] at the wei-Jio [1:3 P. M.] she took the
fairy ride and ascended to the far country. We
cried out and mourned how frantically! We
learn from her testamentary statement that the
period of full mourning is to be limited to twenty-
seven days. We certainly cannot be satisfied
with this. Full mourning must be worn for one
hundred days and half mourning for twenty-
seven months, by which our grief may be partly
expressed. The order to restrain grief so that
the affairs of the empire may be of first im-
portance we dare not disregard, as it is her
parting command. We will strive to be temper-
ate so as to comfort the spirit of the late Empress
in Heaven.”

We call attention to the fact that according to
the fourth of these edicts the death of the Emperor
is put at from 5 to 7 P. M on the evening of the

352

Court Life in China

14th of November, while that of the Empress
Dowager is from i to 3 P. M. of the same day at
least two hours earlier, and that in her last edict
she is made to speak of the death of Kuang Hsii.
Whether these dates have become mixed in cross-
ing to America we have not been able to ascer-
tain, though we think it more than likely that her
death occurred on November 15th instead of the
14th.

The Court and the New Education

Abolish the eight-legged essay. Let the new learning be
the test of scholarship, but include the classics, history,
geography and government of China in the examinations.
The true essay will then come out. If so desired, the
eight-legged essay can be studied at home; but why
trouble the school with them, and at the same time waste
time and strength that can be expended in something more
profitable ?

— Chang Chih-tung in “ China's Only Hope."

XXII

THE COURT AND THE NEW EDUCATION

The changes in the attitude of the court
towards a new educational system be-
gan, as do many great undertakings, in
a very simple way. We have already shown
how the eunuchs secured all kinds of foreign
mechanical toys to entertain the baby Emperor
Kuang Hsii ; how these were supplemented in
his boyhood by ingenious clocks and watches ;
how he became interested in the telegraph, the
telephone, steam cars, steamboats, electric light
and steam heat, and how he had them first
brought into the palace and then established
throughout the empire : and how he had the
phonograph, graphophone, cinematograph, bicy-
cle, and indeed all the useful and unique inven-
tions of modern times brought in for his enter-
tainment.

He then began the study of English. When
in 1894 a New Testament was sent to the Em-
press Dowager on the occasion of her sixtieth
birthday, he at once secured from the American
Bible Society a copy of the complete Bible for
himself. He began studying the Gospel of Luke,

355

Court Life in China

356

This gave him a taste for foreign literature and
he sent his eunuchs to the various book deposi-
tories and bought every book that had been trans-
lated from the European languages into the
Chinese. To these he bent all his energies and
it soon became noised abroad that the Emperor
was studying foreign books and was about to
embrace the Christian faith. This continued
from 1894 till 1898, during which time his ex-
ample was followed by tens of thousands of
young Chinese scholars throughout the empire,
and Chang Chih-tung wrote his epoch-making
book “ China’s Only Hope ” which, being sent to
the young Emperor, led him to enter upon a
universal reform, the chief feature of which may
be considered the adoption of a new educational
system.

But now let us notice the animus of Kuang
Hsii. He has been praised without stint for his
leaning towards foreign affairs, when in reality
was it not simply an effort on the part of the
young man to make China strong enough to re-
sist the incursions of the European powers ?
Germany had taken Kiaochou, Russia had
taken Port Arthur, Japan had taken Formosa,
Great Britain had taken Weihaiwei, France had
taken Kuangchouwan, and even Italy was anx-
ious to have a slice of his territory, while all the
English papers in the port cities were talking of
China being divided up amongst the Powers,

The Court and the New Education 357

and it was these things which led the Emperor
to enter upon his work of reform.

In the summer of 1898 therefore he sent out
an edict to the effect that : “ Our scholars are

now without solid and practical education ; our
artisans are without scientific instructors ; when
compared with other countries we soon see how
weak we are. Does any one think that our troops
are as well drilled or as well led as those of the
foreign armies ? or that we can successfully stand
against them ? Changes must be made to ac-
cord with the necessities of the times. . . .

Keeping in mind the morals of the sages and
wise men, we must make them the basis on
which to build newer and better structures. We
must substitute modern arms and Western or-
ganization for otir old rkgime ; we mzist select
our military officers according to Western meth-
ods of 77tilitary education ; we must establish
elementary and high schools, colleges and uni-
versities, in accordance with those of foreign
countries ; we must abolish the Wen-chang (liter-
ary essay) and obtain a knowledge of ancient and
modern world-history, a right conception of the
present-day state of affairs, with special reference
to the governments and institutions of the coun-
tries of the five great continents ; and we must
understand their arts and sciences.”

The effect of this edict was to cause hundreds
of thousands of young aspirants for office to put

Court Life in China

358

aside the classics and unite in establishing reform
clubs in many of the provincial capitals, open
ports, and prefectural cities. Book depots were
opened for the sale of the same kind of literature
the Emperor had been studying, magazines and
newspapers were issued and circulated in great
numbers, lectures were delivered and libraries
established, and students flocked to the mission
schools ready to study anything the course con-
tained, literary, scientific or religious. Christians
and pastors were even invited into the palace by
the eunuchs to dine with and instruct them. But
the matter that gave the deepest concern to the
boy in the palace was : “ How can we so

strengthen ourselves that we will be able to re-
sist the White Peril from Europe ? ”

Among the important edicts issued in the es-
tablishment of the new education was the one of
June II, 1898, in which he ordered that “a great
central university be established at Peking,” the
funds for which were provided by the govern-
ment. Among other things he said : ” Let all

take advantage of the opportunities for the new
education thus open to them, so that in time
we may have many who will be competent to
help us in the stupendous task of pictting our
country on a level with the strongest of the West-
ern Powers." It was not wisdom the young man
was after for the sake of wisdom, but he wanted
knowledge because knowledge was power, and

The Court and the New Education 359

at that time it was the particular kind of power
that was necessary to save China from utter
destruction.

On the 26th of the same month he censured
the princes and ministers who were lax in re-
porting upon this edict, and ordered them to do
so at once, and it was not long until a favourable
report was given and, for the first time in the
history of the empire, a great university was
launched by the government, destined, may we
not hope, to accomplish the end the ambitious
boy Emperor had in view.

Kuang Hsii was aware that a single institu-
tion was not sufficient to accomplish that end.
On July loth therefore he ordered that “ schools
and colleges be established in all the provincial
capitals, prefectoral, departmental and district
cities, and allowed the viceroys and governors
but two months to report upon the number of
colleges and free schools within their provinces,”
saying that ‘‘all must be changed into practical
schools for the teaching of Chinese literature,
and Western learning and become feeders to the
Peking Imperial University.” He ordered fur-
ther that all memorial and other temples that
had been erected by the people but which were
not recorded in the list of the Board of Rites or
of Sacrificial Worship, were to be turned into
schools and colleges for the propagation of
Western learning, a thought which was quite in

Court Life in China

360

harmony with that advocated by Chang Chih-
tung. The funds for carrying on this work,
and the establishment of these schools, were to
be provided for by the China Merchants’ Steam-
ship Company, the Telegraph Company and the
Lottery at Canton.

On August 4th he ordered that numerous pre-
paratory schools be established in Peking as
special feeders to the university ; and on the
9th appointed Dr. W. A. P. Martin as Head of
the Faculty and approved the site suggested for
the university by Sun Chia-nai, the president.
On the 1 6th he authorized the establishment of
a Bureau for “ translating into Chinese Western
works on science, arts and literature, and text-
books for use in schools and colleges ” ; and on
the 19th he abolished the “ Palace examinations
for Hanlins as useless, superficial and obsolete,”
thus severing the last cord that bound them to
the old regime.

What, now, was the Empress Dowager doing
while Kuang Hsii was issuing all these reform
edicts, which, we are told, were so contrary to
all her reactionary principles ? Why did she not
stretch forth her hand and prevent them ? She
was spending the hot months at the Summer
Palace, fifteen miles away, without offering either
advice, objection or hindrance, and it was not
until two delegations of officials and princes had
appeared before her and plead with her to come

The Court and the New Education 361

and take control of affairs and thus save them
from being ousted or beheaded, and herself from
imprisonment, did she consent to come. By thus
taking the throne she virtually placed herself in
the hands of the conservative party, and all his
reform measures, except that of the Peking Uni-
versity and provincial schools, were, for the time,
countermanded, and the Boxers were allowed to
test their strength with the allied Powers.

Passing over the two bad years of the Em-
press Dowager, which we have treated in another
chapter, we find her again, after the failure of the
Boxer uprising, and the return of the court to
Peking, reissuing the same style of edicts that
had gone out from the pen of Kuang Hsii. On
August 29, 1901, she ordered “the abolition of
essays on the Chinese classics in examinations
for literary degrees, and substituted therefor es-
says and articles on some phase of modern af-
fairs, Western laws or political economy. This
same procedure is to be followed in examination
of candidates for office.”

And now notice another phase of this same
edict. “ The old methods of gaining military
degrees by trial of strength with stone weights,
agility with the sword, or marksmanship with the
bow on foot or on horseback, are of no use to
men in the army, where strategy and rnilitary
science are the sine qua non to office, and hence
they should be done away with forever.” It is,

Court Lite in China

362

as it was with Kuang Hsu, the strengthening of
the army she has in mind in her first efforts at
reform, that she may be able to back up with
war-ships and cannon, if necessary, her refusal
to allow Italy or any other European power to
filch, without reason or excuse, the territory of
her ancestors.

September 12, 1901, she issued another edict
commanding that “ all the colleges in the empire
should be turned into schools of Western learn-
ing ; each provincial capital should have a uni-
versity like that in Peking, whilst all the schools
in the prefectures and districts are to be schools
or colleges of the second or third class,” neither
more nor less than a restatement of the edict of
July 10, 1898, as issued by the deposed Emperor,
except that she confined it to the schools without
taking the temples.

September 17, 1901, she ordered “the vice-
roys and governors of other provinces to follow
the example of Liu Kun-yi of Liang Kiang, Chang
Chih-tung of Hukuang, and Kuei Chun (Manchu)
of Szechuan, in sending young men of scholastic
promise abroad to study any branch of Western
science or art best suited to their tastes, that in
time they may return to China and place the
fruits of their knowledge at the service of the
empire.” Such were some of the edicts issued
by the Emperor and the Empress Dowager in
their efforts to launch this new system of education

YANG SHIH-HSIANG

YUAN SHIH-KAI

1

I

The Court and the New Education 363

which was to transform the old China into a strong
and sturdy youth. What now were the results ?

The Imperial College in Shansi was opened
with 300 students all of whom had already
taken the Chinese degree of Bachelor of Arts.
It had both Chinese and foreign departments,
and after the students had completed the first,
they were allowed to pass on to the second,
which had six foreign professors who held di-
plomas from Western colleges or universities,
and a staff of six translators of university text-
books into Chinese, superintended by a foreigner.
In 1901-2 ten provinces, under the wise leader-
ship of the Empress Dowager, opened colleges
for the support of which they raised not less than
$400,000.

The following are some of the questions given
at the triennial examinations of these two years
in six southern provinces :

1. “ As Chinese and Western laws differ, and
Western people will not submit to Chinese pun-
ishments, what ought to be done that China,
like other nations, may be mistress in her own
country ? ”

2. “ What are the Western sources of eco-
nomic prosperity, and as China is now so poor,
what should she do ? ”

3. “ According to international law has any
one a right to interfere with the internal affairs
of any foreign country ? ”

364 Court Life in China

4. “ State the advantages of constructing rail-
ways in Shantung.”

5, “ Of what importance is the study of
chemistry to the agriculturist ? ”

While Yiian Shih-kai was Governor of Shan-
tung he induced Dr. W. M. Hayes to resign the
presidency of the Presbyterian College at Teng
Choufu and accept the presidency of the new
government college at Chinanfu the capital of
the province. Dr. Hayes drew up a working
plan of grammar and high schools for Shantung
which were to be feeders to this provincial col-
lege. This was approved by the Governor, and
embodied in a memorial to the throne, copies of
which the Empress Dowager sent to the govern-
ors and viceroys of all the provinces declaring
it to be a law, and ordering the “ viceroys, gov-
ernors and literary chancellors to see that it was
obeyed.”

Dr. Hayes and Yuan Shih-kai soon split
upon a regulation which the Governor thought
it best to introduce, viz., “ That the Chinese
professors shall, on the first and fifteenth of each
month, conduct their classes in reverential sacri-
fice to the Most Holy Confucius, and to all the
former worthies and scholars of the provinces.”
Dr. Hayes and his Christian teachers withdrew,
and it was not long until those who professed
Christianity were excused from this rite, while
the Christian physicians who taught in the

The Court and the New Education 365

Peking Imperial University were allowed to
dispense with the queue and wear foreign
clothes, as being both more convenient and
more sanitary.

When Governor Yiian was made viceroy of
Chihli, he requested Dr. C. D. Tenny to draw
up and put into operation a similar schedule for
the metropolitan province. This was done on a
very much enlarged scale, and at present (1909)
“ the Chihli province alone has nine thousand
schools, all of which are aiming at Western
education ; while in the empire as a whole there
are not less than forty thousand schools, colleges
and universities,” representing one phase of the
educational changes that have been brought
about in China during the last dozen years.

The changes in the new education among
women promise to be even more sweeping than
those among men. Dr. Martin, expressing the
sentiments then in vogue, said, as far back as
1877, “ that not one in ten thousand women
could read.” In 1893 I began studying the sub-
ject, and was led at once to doubt the statement.
The Chinese in an offhand way will agree with
Dr. Martin. But I found that it was a Chinese
woman who wrote the first book that was ever
written in any language for the instruction of
girls, and that the Chinese for many years have
had “ Four Books for Girls ” corresponding to
the “Four Books” of the old regime, and that

366 Court Life in China

they were printed in large editions, and have
been read by the better class of people in almost
every family. In every company of women that
came to call on my wife from 1894 to 1900, there
was at least one if not more who had read these
books, while the Empress Dowager herself was
a brilliant example of what a woman of the old
regime could do. Where the desire for educa-
tion was so great among women, that as soon as
it became possible to do so, she launched the
first woman’s daily newspaper that was pub-
lished anywhere in the world, with a woman as
an editor, we may be sure that there was more
than one in ten thousand during the old regime
that could read. What therefore may we expect
in this new regime where women are ready to
sacrifice their lives rather than that the school
which they are undertaking to establish shall be
a failure ?

INDEX

Agriculture, Temple of, 337
Alute, 39 ; relatives of, 40
America, 30, 220
American Bible Society, 123
Amoor, 42
Anhui braves, 42
Arrow war, 29
Art, Chinese, 84
Art gallery, 198
Astronomy, 240

Audience, diplomatic ladies pre-
pare for, 69, 96, 97 ff., 156,

161, 165

Audience, first, 39, 155
Audiences, at midiught, 194

Ball, Dyer, 288
Beggars, 236

Beresford, Lord Charles, 25
Blackwood's Magazine, 52
Board of Mines, 80
Board of Punishments, 286
Board of Railroads, 80
Board of Rites, 157
Bomb blows up train, 74
Boxers, 54, 55, 69, 98, 144, 157,

162, 164, 167, 172, 179, 180,
206, 223, 234, 236

Brass, 331

Brick bed, 252

Bronze, 331

Brougham, 176

Buddha, thousand armed, 196

Buddhists, 300

Bushell, S. W., 84

Calisthenics, 214, 216
Canton, 241
Carl, Miss, 104, 198
Carts, Chinese, 272
Chang Chih-tung, 46, 56, 172,
306, 314, 354

Chang Hsii, Mrs., 203
Chang Yin-huan, 44
Chen, Mr., 152
Chiang, General, 181
Chien Lung, 34, 36, 121, 193
Chien men, 190
Chihli, Province of, 43, 345
Chinese Government, rescue of
French prisoners by, 25
Chinese lady’s ideal of beauty,
229 ; not received at court, 233
Chinese Progress, 57, 58, 143
Ching, Prince, 45, 104, 147, 170,
172, 174, 177, 205, 2ois, 208,
209, 231, 306, 320
Chin Shih (graduate of the third
degree), 277
Christian schools, 53
Christian women give Bible to
Empress Dowager, 122
Chuang, Prince, 179, 205
Chuang Yiian (highest type of
graduate), 221, 277
Chit Jen (graduate of the second
degree), 277

Chiin, Prince, ancestry, 172 ; ap-
pearance, 173 ; attends dedi-
catory services, 180 ; changes
officials, 307 ; gives luncheon,
170; humour, 173; prepared
for the regency, 178; selected
regent, 160, 17 1; understand
foreign affairs, 182
Chiin, Princess, 177
Circus, Chinese, 223
“ Classic for Girls,” quotations
from, 26 f.

“ Classic for Girls,” filial piety, 27
Coal Hill, 190, 192, 196-197
College of Inscriptions, 90
Colquhoun, A. R., 25, 246
Concubines, 13, 242, 248, 257, 305

367

Index

368

Conger, Major, 173, 181
Conger, Mrs. E. H., 96, 104, 173,
177, 200

Conservatives, 54, 55, 74, 13 1,

145. 159. 172, 176

Constitution for China, 73

Coup d’etat, 204

Court ladies, 100

Court painters, 89

Curio street, Liu Li Chang, 92

Curriculum of girls’ schools, 217

Dane shopkeeper, 115, 116
Denby, Colonel, 25, 36, 44, 130,
156

Dining habits, 259
Diphtheria, 281

“ Do not know my own chil-
' dren,” 258

Dowager Princess, 295, 298
Dress, and dressing, 252 ff.

Duke Kuei, 201

Duke Tse, with commission, 77,
207

Eclipse, 153

Edicts, list of by Kuang Hsii,

137 f

Embroidery, 217, 251
Empress Dowager, where born,
9 ; father’s name, 9 ; don’t
talk about, lo; brothers and
sisters of, 10 ; when born, 10 ;
appearance of, 8 ; enjoys the-
atricals, II; name (Miss
Chao), registered, 11-12.; se-
lected as concubine, 14-27 ;
character of, 18, 33, 36, 52, 97 ;
attitude towards Boxers ac-
counted for, 22 ; first impres-
sions of the foreigner, 24 ; dis-
position to learn, 27 ; beheads
six reformers, 60 ; Western,
28 ; Eastern, 28 ; exile at
Jehol, 31 ; two phases in life
of, 31; policy of, 34, 48;
realization of her duty, 36 ;
characteristics of, 36, 194 ff.,
209 ; ability to choose states-

men, 36, 146 ; regent, 37 ; not
satisfied, 37 ; adopts Prince
Kung’s daughter, 38 ; plans
for succession, 39 ; watches
officials, 43, 45, 46 ; plays one
party against another, 48 ;
again called to throne, 53; is-
sues secret edict, 61 ; issues
unwise edicts, 314; ready to
go to war, 64 ; convert to the
policy of progress, 68; began
reforms, 72 ; photographs of,
73; painting teacher of, 85,
86 ; as an artist, 86 ff. ; as
Goddess of Mercy, 90, 91 ;
asks bowl of, 100 ; apartments
of, 192 ; private audiences of,
102 ; death of, 343 ff. ; inquires
about education of girls, 102 ;
issues edict commending fe-
male education, 103 ; her
name, 344; inquires about
church, 103 ; superstitions of,
104, 105 ; appearance of, 107 ;
no double in history, 109 ; sat
behind him holding reins, 142 ;
not reactionary, 144 ; calls
meeting of princes, 161, 162,
163; arranges marriages, 176;
subscribes to Union Medical
College, 181

England, 30, 53, 133, 141, 182
Eunuch, Li Lien-ying, 92
Eunuchs, 97, 123, 124, 125, 154,
166, 205, 213, 231, 249, 252,

271. 305

Fairs, 330
Famine relief, 222
Fast days, 268

Father’s name, will not speak,
277

Feet, bound, 230

Filial piety, “ Classic for Girls,” 27

Food, Chinese, 218

Foot-binding, 105

Forbidden City, 42, 186, 187 ff.

Foreign devil, 24

Foreign office, 37, 60

Index

369

“ Four Books for Girls,” 365
France, 30, 53, 133, 141, 175,
182

French prisoners, 25
Fruit in Peking, 258
Funeral ceremonies, 289 ff.

Furs, 331

Garden, 19 i, 262
German Emperor, 175
German missionaries, 55
Germany, 53, 133, 175, 182, 356
Giles, Prof., 37, 270
“ Girls, Primer for,” 228
Gladstone photographed with Li
Hung-chang, 45

God, slave girl prayed only to,
240

“ Golden Lilies,” 230
Gorst, Harold, 26
Gospel, power of the, 34OJ
Grand council, 7 1
Great Britain and opium, 80
Great pure dynasty, 34

Hair, combing of the, 254
Hang Chou, lady of, 223
Hanlin (graduate of the fourth
degree), 277

Hart, Sir Robert, 48, 181, 248
Hayes, W. M., 364
Headland, Mrs., 85, 86, 87, 91,
96, 157, 161, 165, 176, 202,
206, 213, 229, 243, 251, 271
Heaven, eastern, 299
Henry, Prince, 155
Holcomb, Chester, 25, 304
Home, a Chinese, 247
Hongkong, 141
Plopkins, Dr., 91, 180, i8i
Hsian, 118, 165, 188, 239
Hsien Feng, Emperor, 14, 37,
142, 172, 201, 348 ; concubine
of, 14; flees from British, 31 ;
died at Jehol, 31

Hsin Tsai (graduate of the first
degree), 277
Hsii Ching-cheng, 164

Hsii, the Misses, 276
Hu, Governor, 173, 174, i8i

Ills of Chinese ladies, 271
Imperial College, 132
Imperial present, 265
Imperial Princess, 205, 206
Imperial temples, 196
Imperial University, 139, 155
Incense-burners, 331
Intrigue, palace, 41
Italy, 182

Japan, 135, 140, 143, 152, 182
Japanese, 188, 215, 216, 220
Jehol, 31
Jewelry, 332
Johnston, Charles, 1 13
Johnston, R. F., 328
Jung, Lady, 176

Jung Lu, 47, 54, 55, 59, 135,
146, 31 1

Jupiter and his moons, 240
Ju yi (a wedding present), 251,
262

Ka-la-chin, Princess, 218
Kang Hsi, 34, 193
Kang Kuang-jen, 60, 157
Kang Yi, 55

Kang Yu-wei, 54, 59, 60, 134,
135. 148, 153. 157. 204, 309
Kettler, Baron von, 174, 178,
179, 180, 181
Kiaochou, 141
Kuan, Mr., 89, 90
Kuang-chou-wan, 141
Kuang Hsii, 42, 54, 74, 151;
loses four ports, 53; deposed,
53 ; issues edict, 56 ; standing
to left of Dowager, 71 ; be-
trothal of, 107 ; appearance of,
1 12, 167; chosen emperor,

1 14; fondness for toys, 115,
131 ; not an ideal child, 117;
apartments of, 1 18; fondness
for railroad telegraph, etc.,
1 19, 120; face turned to the
future, 121, 122; buys Bible,

370

Index

123 ; studies Gospel of Luke,
1 23 ; issues edict favouring
Christianity, 125, 130; studies
English, 126; buys foreign
books, 127, 133; tries to ride
bicycle, 128; as a man, 131 ;
not an imbecile, 131 ; list of
edicts issued by, 137 ff.; selec-
tion of a successor, 159; op-
poses Boxers, 163; how-
guarded, 167 ; dines with Em-
press Dowager, 168; kicks off
shoe at Yehonala, 202 j hates
Yuan Shih-kai, 316; com-
plains of his hard lot, 322;
could not have been put to
death by any one man, 323
Kuei Chun, 56

Kuei Fei (first concubine), 27
Kung, Prince, 31, 32, 36, 37, 38,

41. 45. 135. 205

Lady Yuan, 208
Lamas, 300, 339
Launches, steam, I2I
Liang Chi-tsao, 60
Liang Tung-yen, 170
Li Han-chang, 282
Li Hung-chang, 41, 42, 43, 145,
172, 175, 278, 280, 282, 306;
sent to Japan, 44 ; sent to Rus-
sia, 44 ; “ Bismarck of the

East,” 45 ; invited to Summer
Palace, 45 ; degraded, 45 ;
Viceroy of Kuangtung, 56
Li Lien-ying, 92, 168
Li Ping-heng, 55
Li Po, 230
Literati, 304
Liu Hsin, 60
Liu Kuang-ti, 60
Liu Kun-yi, 46, 56, 314
Liu Li Chang, curio street, 92
Lotus Lake, 196

Manchu lady’s ideal of beauty,
229

Manchu and Chinese ladies do
not associate, 231

Manchu uses cosmetics freely,

254

Manners and customs of the Chi-
nese, 246
Map on fan, 175

Marriages, students’ method, 250
Marry a princess, no prince can,
218

Martin, W. A. P., 68, 156, 360,

365

Meats in Peking, 259
Medicine, 282, 283
Memorial arch, to von Kettler,
179

Men and their clothing, 263
Miao, Lady, 85, 86, 87, 88, 93
Missionary educational institu-
tions, 132

Mongolian, 218, 220, 221
Month old feast, 266
Moore, Bishop, 181
Mother-in-law, 257, 273
Mourning rites, 288

Nanking, address of Tuan Fang
at, 76

Nanking University, 76
Na Tung, 179, 181
Newspaper, Woman's Daily, 225
New Testament, 122
New York, 252

Occupation of Chinese ladies,

251

Opium reform of Empress Dow-
ager, 78
Opium War, 22
Opium (Yang Yen), 23
Ore, stores of, 219

Painting teacher, of Empress
Dowager, 85
Palace, party in the, 41
Pawned trousers of child, 276
Peking, 189 ; description of, 189,
328 ; city of the court, 329
Peking University, 59, 145
Peter the Great, 134
Philadelphia, 258

Index

371

Phonograph, 120
Physicians, 283, 284, 345
Porcelain, 33 1, 333
Port Arthur, 14 1

Portrait of Empress Dowager, 104
Precious stones, 332
Priests, 295

Princesses, 71; Princess Shun,
85, 200, 207, 208 ; Princess Pu
Lun, 182; Princess Tsai Chen,
208 ; fourth Princess, 209 ;
Princess Su, 213
Private audiences, 102
Progressives, 55
Prospect Hill, 197
Protocol, 165
Pu I, 160, 17 1, 346
Pu Lun, 182, 306
Pu Lun, Princess, 182

Questions for examination, 363
Queue, abolition of, 143; aManchu
style, 232

Reform club, 133, 134
Reform really due to Emperor, 72
Reformers, 55

Reformers, six beheaded, 54, 60
Regency, after death of Hsien
Feng, 31

Registration, objections to, 12
Roosevelt, President, 73
Russia, 53, 133, 141
Russia invited to join England in
war, 30

Saint James, Court of, 248
Samuel, little, 267
Saratoga trunk, 272
Schools, 214, 365
Scidmore, Elizah Ruhamah, 8
Sealed memorials, 144
Secret edict, 61
Sedan chair, 259 ff.

Seventh Prince, married to Em-
press Dowager’s sister, 39, 201
Shakespeare, 194
Shanghai, 120
Shansi, 56

Shantung, 56

Shoes for Empress Dowager, 274
Shun, Princess, 85, 200, 207, 208
Silkworm, 197

Sister of Empress Dowager mar-
ried to Seventh Prince, 39
Sisters-in-law, 250, 252
Slave girl saved by mistress,

234 ff-

Smith, Arthur H., 33, 157
Social life, 247

Soldiers, paper, 20 ; stories about,
21

Spirit doctors, 284

St. Louis Exposition, 220

Su, Dowager Princess, 289 ff.

Su, Prince, 162, 163, 170, 214,
218, 219, 221, 231, 290, 293,
298, 306

Suicide, 224, 280
Summer Palace, 45, I2I, 144,
146, 147

Sun Chia-nai, 360
Sunday, 217

Table decorations, 98
Taft, Marcus L., 126
Tai-ping Rebellion, 19
Tai-ping, stories of, 20-21
Talienwan, 141
“ Talking in the sleeve,” 333
Tan Sze-tung, 60
Taoists, 300
Tao Kuang, 173, 177
Tartar City, 330
Tea drinking, 261
Telescope, 240
Temple of Heaven, 151, 334
Temples of Agriculture, 337 ; of
the Sun, 338 ; of the Moon, 338 ;
of the Earth, 338 ; Lama, 338 ;
Confucian, 338, 339
Tenny, C. D., 317, 365
Testament, New, sent to Empress
Dowager, 355
Theatre, 168, 263, 264
Third Princess, 221, 223
Tourists, 197

Townley, Lady Susan, 342

372

Index

Train provided for Empress, 74
Travelling, methods of, in Peking,
259 £f.

Tsai Chen, 170, 208
Tsai Feng (Prince Chiin), 160
Tsai Tien (see KuangHsu), 1 14,
”5

Tse, Duke, 77, 207
Tuan Fang, Governor of Shensi,
56; head of commission, 74,
75 ; address at Waldorf-As-
toria, 76 ; address at Nanking
University, 76

Tuan, Prince, 48, 161, 162; ap-
pointed member of foreign of-
fice, 48 ; selection of his son as
emperor, 159 ; determination
to murder Von Kettler, 179
Tu Fu, 270

Tung Chill, 32, 34, 113, 160, 201 ;
married, 39; death of, 40, 41,

113

Uncle, lady flees to, 239
University, Peking Imperial, 359

Vegetable food, 267
Vinegar, eat, 249
Visit the Forbidden City, 188
Vos, Mr. 198

Waist-binding, 106
Waldorf-Astoria, 75
Wang Chao, 143, 157
Wang Wen-shao, 46
Washington, 252, 332
Wei-hai-wei, 141

Western education, 222
White peril, 358
Widows, 254

Wildman, Rounsevelle, ISO
Williams, S. Wells, 186
Woman’s Daily Newspaper, 225
Women, their position, 330
Wu men, 189
Wu-Sung Railroad, 120

Yang Jui, 60
Yang Shen-hsin, 60
Yehonala, 77, 201, 202, 207
Yin-ma, 20
Yin-Yang, 345
Yuan Chang, 164
“ Yuan Fan,” 18
Yiian, Lady, 208
Yiian Shih-kai, 46, 146, 17 2;
placed in charge of army, 47,
75 ; ordered to imprison Em-
press Dowager, 47 ; Governor
of Shantung, 56, 312, 315;
birthplace, 307 ; pupil of Li
Hung-chang, 308; called an
opportunist, 310; summoned
to Peking, 31 1 ; tests Boxer
leaders, 312; disobeys Em-
press Dowager’s edicts, 314;
mother dies, 315 ; Yellow
Jacket received, 317 ; made
Viceroy of Chihli, 317 ; estab-
lishes public school system,
318; could not have put Kuang
Hsii to death, 323
Yii Hsien, 55, 56
Yii, Mr., court photographer, 92

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